REACTIVITY OF LIVING T-BUTYL ACRYLIC ANIONS TOWARDS ALDEHYDES - APPLICATION TO THE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXYL-TERMINATED POLYACRYLATES AND THEIRRELATED COPOLYMERS

The reaction between 'living' t-butyl acrylic anions and benzaldehyde (BZA) is shown to be highly selective. Advantage is taken of this fact in order to prepare well defined hydroxyl-terminated poly(t-butyl acr ylate) (tBuA) samples. When a dialdehyde such as terephthalaldehyde (T AP) is used in place of BZA, both aldehyde functions of the electrophi lic reagent participate in the deactivating reaction of the acrylic an ions. Multiblock copolymers consisting of polyvinylic and poly(t-butyl acrylate) sequences can therefore be obtained by stoichiometric coupl ing reactions between the 'living' triblock copolymer and terephthalal dehyde.