Reaction kinetics for the anionic ring-opening polymerization of tetraphenyltetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane using a fast initiator system

It is well known that the rate of polymerization for an anionic mechanism is dependent on the ability of the bulk material or solvent system to disassociate the ion pair at the propagating chain end. In the anionic ring-opening polymerization of cyclic organosiloxanes in particular, the larger and softer the counter ion, the more rapidly the reaction proceeds. A recently developed phosphazene initiator system provides a large, soft counter ion relative to other traditional initiators used for the polymerization of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). This novel initiator system was used in this investigation for the ring-opening polymerization of tetraphenyltetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (P-4) and the reaction kinetics under bulk and solution conditions were investigated. The new initiator system showed a dramatic increase in the rate of polymerization over the conventional potassium hydroxide-catalyzed system. Furthermore, this initiator was sufficiently reactive to be useful for the ring-opening polymerization of P-4 at 293 K.