Photoinduced living cationic polymerization of tetrahydrofuran(IV): Syringe method

The living nature of cationic poly(tetrahydrofuran), which is generated by the addition of the photolytic products of diphenyliodonium hexafluorophosphate (initiator) via syringe, was investigated in connection with the direct polymerization method in which polymerization of tetrahydrofuran is carried out in the presence of the initiator. Although the living nature of the polymerization (i.e., the linear relationship between the percentage of conversion and the molecular weight of the resulting polymer) is observed in the syringe method because of the absence of chain transfer or termination, unexceptionally, a lower rate of polymerization and higher molecular weights of the resulting polymers were observed in the syringe method when compared with those of the corresponding direct polymerization method. This leads us to the conclusion that the living nature is ascribed to the stabilization of the propagating cationic species due to ion pair formation with the less-nucleophilic complex metal halide anion (PF6-), and the decreased rate of polymerization and higher molecular weight in the syringe method is attributed to the partial loss of the activity of the cationic species because of the nucleophilic attack of basic impurities, such as water, introduced to the system in the syringe manipulation. (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Inc.