ANIONIC-POLYMERIZATION OF N-SUBSTITUTED MALEIMIDE .5. A STUDY ON THE KINETIC FEATURES OF ANIONIC-POLYMERIZATION OF N-PHENYLMALEIMIDE

The kinetic feature of the anionic polymerization of N‐PMI was investigated in THF. The polymerization system initiated with lithium tert‐butoxide was revealed to be so‐called “slow‐initiation” system. The rate constant of the initiation reaction, ki, was obtained to be 4.2 × 10−3 (L mol−1 s−1) at −72°C. The apparent rate constants of the propagation reaction, k papp, at −72°C were individually obtained from each slope of the first‐order plots in the later stages of the polymerizations for four different initiator concentrations. Each k papp is fairly close to that of initiation rate around 10−3. The propagation reaction was concluded to be dominated by ion‐pair mechanism from the analysis of the kinetic data and the results of the addition effects of crown ether and common salt. Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.