STEREOREGULAR POLYMERIZATION OF GLYCIDYL PHENYL ETHER CATALYZED BY DIBUTYLTIN OXIDE TRIBUTYL-PHOSPHATE CONDENSATES

Polymerization of glycidyl phenyl ether was carried out with the dibut yltin oxide-tributyl phosphate condensate as catalyst. The product was fractionated. The yield of the acetone-insoluble faction was in the r ange of 85% to 96%. The tacticity of the polymer fractions was studied using C-13 NMR spectroscopy. The results indicated that the microstru cture of PGPE was dependent on the catalyst structure and the reaction conditions: By using the condensate of appropriate molecular weight a s catalyst, the isotacticity of the acetone-insoluble fractions can re ach as high as 87.4%. In some cases, however, the fractions rich in sy ndiotactic structure were obtained in addition to the isotactic fracti on. It was suggested that more than one kind of active sites were pres ent in the catalyst.