S. Antinucci et al., An unusual chain conformation: s(6*4/3) helices in form II of isotactic poly(vinylcyclopentane), MACROMOLEC, 34(23), 2001, pp. 8078-8083
The crystalline form II of isotactic poly(vinylcyclopentane) was studied on
the basis of fiber X-ray diffraction and of potential energy calculations
of both isolated and packed chains. The hypothesis of a s(6*4/3) conformati
on of the chain has been investigated in detail. According to our interpret
ation, s(6*4/3) helices, which represent an anomalous case among isotactic
poly(a-olefins), result from the superposition of a basically s(2*4/1) conf
ormation of the backbone chain and of side groups following one another wit
h a regular sequence of three conformations, mainly different for their ori
entation, Slight deformations of the main chain torsion angles from s(2*4/1
) symmetry are found to be relevant to improve the data fitting. The result
ing structure is indicative of a quite singular polymorphism, mainly ascrib
able to the different conformations accessible to the side groups.