Polystyrene star-shaped polymers containing core built from diepoxides

A study was conducted, to demonstrate the synthesis of the star-shaped polystyrenes, containing core built from diepoxides. Hydroxy-terminated polystyrene (PS-OH) was used after threshold freeze-drying process from dry benzene. Around 1.79 gram of PS-OH was placed in a vacuum glass ampoule, which was closed with Rotaflo® stopcock, while dry benzene was distilled in vacuum line, freeze-drying the solution three times. The study also involved terminating active centers with CH3COOH/CH3OH mixture, while the solution was concentrated and the residual amount of solvents removed under vacuum. It was observed that a number of small molecules were formed, due to relative high concentration of PS-O precursor, in comparison with the concentration of diepoxide and secondary alkoxide ions formed from it. The small molecules were formed after the addition of diepoxide to the reaction mixture used in the study.