Abstract

Ahmed Aouissi*, Zeid Abdullah Al-Othman and Hassan Al-Shehri

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/ojc/310349

The bulk copolymerization of styrene (ST) and 2.3 Dihydro-4H-pyran (DHP) catalyzed by 12-tungstophosphoric (H₃PW₁₂O₄₀) acid was investigated. The polymerization was achieved in mild conditions by a very simple procedure and the catalyst was recovered by simple filtration. The obtained polymers were characterized by means of FTIR, ¹H-NMR, viscosity measurement, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetry (TGA). The results indicated the formation of a copolymers and a homopolymer. The polymerization involved exclusively C=C bonds of the vinyl cyclic ether.  Propagation by ring-opening was not observed. The effect of the temperature and the DHP proportion on the polymerization showed that low temperatures and high DHP proportion increased the polymerization conversion.

cationic polymerization; styrene; vinyl ethers; heteropoly acids

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