Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun. 1980, 45, 1047-1055
https://doi.org/10.1135/cccc19801047

Mechanism of the propagation step in the anionic polymerization of styrene

Miroslav Kašpar and Jiří Trekoval

Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 162 06 Prague 6

Abstract

The paper is dealing with an investigation of the kinetic dependence of the propagation step in the anionic coordination polymerization of styrene in benzene at 303 K with "living" oligostyryllithium as initiator at the onset of the reaction. A short but distinct induction period was found, indicating a preceding slow reaction leading to the formation of a reactive intermediate, which behaves as the initiator of the reaction. Using results obtained in the first paper of this series, a new mechanism of propagation has been suggested, the mathematical solution of which is correlated with experimental data.