抄録
The polymerization of 1, 2-dithiane (DT) and mechanical properties of the resulting polymer were investigated. DT, six-membered cyclic disulfid, was found to polymerize without any initiators to give a high molecular weight polymer having cyclic structure. The poly (DT) obtained from thermal polymerization of DT showed a rubbery plateau region between 50-100°C on the temperature-loss modulus curve of the cyclic poly (DT), even though the melting temperature of the poly (DT) was 44°C. While, such behavior was not observed for the linear poly (DT) obtained from the thermal polymerization of DT in the presence of benzylmercaptane. From a difference in mechanical properties between two kinds of different shapes of polymers, i.e., large cyclic poly (DT) and linear poly (DT), we presumed that the cyclic poly (DT) obtained from thermal polymerization has a polycatenane structure, which is formed by intramolecular cyclization reactions and/or back biting reactions of the growing polymer chains.
