Issue 107, 2016, Issue in Progress

Characteristics and mechanism of styrene cationic polymerization in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ionic liquid

Abstract

There has recently been a wide range of trends in the use of ionic liquids (ILs) as reaction solvent for various polymerization processes. A series of cationic polymerizations of styrene in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([Bmim][PF6]) had been achieved using a variety of coinitiators combined with a,a-dimethylbenzyl chloride (CumCl) as a initiator at −15 °C. Experiments were carried out to observe the influence of solvent polarity and viscosity on polymerization rate. Compared with those in organic solvents, the cationic polymerization of styrene in [Bmim][PF6] proceeded in a milder exothermic manner. The end-group structures of the polystyrenes were identified by 1H NMR spectroscopy and MALDI-TOF-MS. The corresponding elementary reactions and mechanism of styrene cationic polymerization in [Bmim][PF6] were also discussed.

Graphical abstract: Characteristics and mechanism of styrene cationic polymerization in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ionic liquid

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Sep 2016
Accepted
31 Oct 2016
First published
31 Oct 2016

RSC Adv., 2016,6, 105322-105330

Characteristics and mechanism of styrene cationic polymerization in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ionic liquid

L. Han, Y. Wu, Y. Dan, H. Wang, X. Zhang, X. Wei, W. Guo and S. Li, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 105322 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA22284F

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