Jm. Kometani et al., A NOVEL-APPROACH TO INDUCING AQUEOUS BASE SOLUBILITY IN SUBSTITUTED STYRENE SULFONE POLYMERS, Macromolecules, 26(9), 1993, pp. 2165-2170
This paper describes the synthesis of a new terpolymer, poly[(tert-but
oxycarbonyloxy) styrene acetoxystyrene sulfone], and provides spectros
copic evidence for the chemical reactions this polymer is capable of u
ndergoing. The (tert-butoxycarbonyloxy)styrene undergoes acidolysis of
the tert-butoxycarbonyl moiety in the solid state in the presence of
a strong acid. If this acid is generated by exposure to UV light, this
reaction can form the basis for imaging this polymer. The acetoxy gro
up can be cleaved from the acetoxystyrene monomer in aqueous base solu
tion only when sulfone is incorporated into the copolymer in the appro
priate amounts. After cleavage by base the resulting polymer is solubl
e in the base solution only if the tert-butoxycarbonyl group has been
removed by acid. The polymer has been designed in a novel manner such
that each monomer of the copolymer fulfills a different function. IR a
nd NMR studies which emphasize and explain the role of sulfone in faci
litating acetoxy hydrolysis are presented.