Equilibria in the anionic polymerization of methyl methacrylate, 1. Chain-length dependence of the rate and equilibrium constants

The rate constants of polymerization and cyclization and the equilibrium constants of polymerization are calculated from kinetic data of the anionic oligomerization of methyl methacrylate initiated by methyl α-lithioisobutyrate in THF at 25°C, and of the “disproportionation” of living oligomers. The numeric method reported earlier was improved. The rate constants of cyclization decrease with chain-length, due to increasing steric hindrance. The rate constants of polymerization depend on the concentration of active centres, due to the formation of associates. Rate and equilibrium constants of polymerization decrease with chain-length. This is discussed in terms of intramolecular coordination…

The decomposition reactions of the lithiated dimer, trimer, and tetramer of methyl methacrylate (MMA) in THF at 25°C were investigated. The decomposition of the lithiated dimer proceeds via depolymerization to lithiated monomer and MMA, addition of MMA to residual lithiated dimer, resulting the trimer (“disproportionation” of the dimer), and subsequent autocondensation of the products. The lithiated trimer almost exclusively undergoes cyclo-autocondensation, whereas for the lithiated tetramer both reactions proceed simultaneously to a remarkable degree. It is shown that the relative rate of autocondensation, which is highly dependent on the degree of polymerization of the oligomer, controls…