The Mechanism of Polyphase-Polymerization of Alkyl Vinyl Ether and the Properties of Polymer Obtained

Abstract

In the polyphase-polymerization of alkyl vinyl ethers, particularly of isobutyl vinyl ether, the mechanism of proliferous reaction and dependency of crystallinity of obtained polymer on the polymerization condition were discussed.
To determine the crystallinity of polymer, density, X-ray diffraction and solubility for methylethyl ketone were measured. It was estimated that the crystallinity of polyisobutylvinylether polymerized at monomer concentration of 8% by volume in petroleum ether at -72°C was about 60% from the density measurement.
It was found that the activity of catalyst for polyphase-polymerization depended on the state of catalyst. From the result that the catalyst present in a solid state had a very weak activty for initiating polymerization, it was concluded that the mechanism of polyphasepolymerization could not be same to that of the usual heterogeneous catalytic polymerization with solid catalyst.