Anionic Polymerization Of Methyl Methacrylate Initiated With Several Lithium Organocuprates

The invesgation on the anionic polymerization of methyl metharcylate (MMA) initiated by several new lithium organocuprates was carried out to circumvent the problems of low initiator ifficiency and broad molecular weight distribution (MWD) in the past work with lithium organocuprates as initiators for the MMA polymerization. Some lithium organocuprates selected in this paper can effectively initiate the MMA polymerization with living character.Polymerizations of (MMA) initiated by (n-Bu)₂CuLi from CuSCN at -10℃ in tetrahydrofuran solution were carried out. Polymerization reaction was sensitive to the monomer concentration, initiator concentration and reaction temperature. With the decrease of reaction temperature, the initiator efficiency obviously dropped and syndiotactic degree of PMMA increased. Several lithium heterocuprates can initiate...