LIVING CARBOCATIONIC POLYMERIZATION .50. THERMOPLASTIC ELASTOMERS BY SEQUENTIAL MONOMER ADDITION .6. POLY(P-METHYLSTYRENE-B-ISOBUTYLENE-B-P-METHYLSTYRENE)

The living carbocationic polymerization (LC+Pzn) of p-methylstyrene (pMeSt) was achieved by the use of the 2-chloro-2,4,4-trimethylpentane (TMPCl)/TiCl4 initiating system in the presence of triethylamine (Et3N) electron donor in CH3Cl/nC6H14 mixed solvent at -80-degrees-C. Next, the synthesis, characterization, and some physical-mechanical characteristics of a series of poly(p-methylstyrene-b-isobutylene-b-p-methylstyrene)(PpMeSt-PIB-PpMeSt) triblocks is described. The latter synthesis involved two steps in one reactor: 1) The generation of diliving polyisobutylene dications (+PIB+) by the dicumyl chloride (DiCumCl)/TiCl4 system under similar conditions followed by 2) The addition of pMeSt and growth of living PpMeSt+ cations. The PpMeSt-PIB-PpMeSt triblocks are soft thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs).