Anionic polymerization of fluorine‐containing vinyl monomers, 6. Polymerizations of fluoroalkyl acrylates and methacrylates initiated by organoaluminium compounds

Abstract

Abstract The anionic polymerizations of 2,2,2‐trifluoroethyl acrylate ( 1a ), 2,2,2‐trifluoroethyl methacrylate ( 1b ), 2,2,2‐trifluoro‐1‐trifluoromethylethyl acrylate ( 2a ), and 2,2,2‐trifluoro‐1‐trifluoromethylethyl methacrylate ( 2b ) were examined with triethylaluminium and diethylaluminium active methylene chelate compounds as initiators. 2b was polymerized with triethylaluminium. Diethyl(ethyl cyanoacetato)aluminium was found to produce polymers of 1a and 1b . Diethyl(acetylacetonato)aluminium and diethyl (dimethyl malonato)aluminium, however, show low reactivity towards these four monomers. The resulting polymers show unimodal molecular weight distribution with number‐average molecular weights of 10 4 −10 5 , measured by GPC. The initiation reaction and the copolymerization reactivity with styrene support the anionic polymerization mechanism.