BLOCK-COPOLYMERS OF STYRENE AND P-ACETOXYSTYRENE WITH POLYISOBUTYLENEBY COMBINATION OF LIVING CARBOCATIONIC AND ATOM-TRANSFER RADICAL POLYMERIZATIONS

Successful combination of quasiliving carbocationic (QLCP) and atom tr ansfer radical polymerizations (ATRP) was carried out by initiating AT RP with polyisobutylene (PIB) macroinitiators obtained by QLCP. It has been found that 1-chloro-1-phenylethyl-telechelic PIBs with (M) over bar(n) of 7 800 and 30700 are efficient macroinitiators for ATRP of st yrene in bulk and in xylene solution and for p-acetoxystyrene (pAcOSt) in xylene. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) traces clearly indicat ed quantitative initiation and the formation of the desired olystyrene -block-polyisobutylene-block-polystyrene (PSt-PIB-PSt) and PpAcOSt-PIB -PpAcOSt triblock copolymers. Experiments also revealed absence of the rmal self-initiation of styrene under ATRP conditions.