Abstract
N-Substituted maleimides are polymerized to form optical active polymers by using an asymmetric catalyst prepared from an optical active bisoxazoline derivative and alkyllithium. In the present study, the reaction mechanism of this asymmetric anionic polymerization was clarified by use of ab initio molecular orbital calculation. In the initiation reaction, the configuration of the catalyst causes an asymmetric induction. On the other hand, the growth reaction proceeds an asymmetric manner and the configuration of asymmetric catalyst has no effect.
