Facile synthesis of blocky styrene(1,3)‐butadiene copolymers having stereoregular monomeric sequences

Half titanocenes (CpCH₂CH₂O)TiCl₂ 1 and (CpCH₂CH₂ OCH₃)TiCl₃ 2 , activated by methylaluminoxane are tested in styrene–1,3‐butadiene copolymerization. The titanocene 1 is able to copolymerize styrene and 1,3‐butadiene, with a facile procedure, to give products with high molecular weight. The analysis of microstructure by ¹³C‐NMR reveals that the styrene homosequences in copolymers are in syndiotactic arrangement, while the butadiene homosequences are, prevailingly, in 1,4‐cis configuration, according with behavior of 1 in the homopolymerizations of styrene and 1,3‐butadiene, respectively. The reactivity ratios of copolymerization are estimated by diad composition analysis. All obtained copolymers have r₁ × r₂ values much larger than 1, indicating blocky nature of homosequences. The structural characterization by wide‐angle X‐ray powder diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry indicates that all copolymers are crystalline, with T_m varying from 171 to 239 °C, depending on the styrene content. The titanocene 2 did not succeed in styrene–1,3‐butadiene copolymerization, giving rise to a blend of homopolymers. Compounds 1 and 2 were also tested in the polymerization of several conjugated dienes, and the obtained results were very useful to rationalize the behavior of both catalysts in the copolymerization of styrene and butadiene. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 815–822, 2010