Composition and structure of liquid polysulfide oligomers based on sulfur,styrene and methacrylic acid

Liquid polysulfide oligomers have been prepared in bulk as well as under th e conditions of known methods. Styrene, methacrylic acid and sulfur were us ed as starting materials. The composition of the oligomer products was dete rmined by using IR spectroscopy as the principal method. The absorption ban ds at 1600 and 700 cm(-1) for styrene and 1697 cm(-1) for methacrylic acid were employed as an analytical tool. Both the kind of chemical bonds betwee n the monomer fragments and length of polysulfide bonds were studied by the combined application of IR and H-1 NMR spectroscopy. Methacrylic acid was found to be bound chemically to the sulfur atoms via its vinylidene group a nd the class of polysulfidity decreased from 2.8 to 2.5. The oligomers synthesized were introduced into elastomer compositions utili zed for the packing of high-voltage cable sleeves. An improvement of the ad hesive properties towards metal surfaces by 43 % was observed as oligomer c ontaining 10.3 mol % of methacrylic acid fragments was employed.