Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.100, No.2, 1395-1402, 2006
Synthesis of a difunctional organolithium compound as initiator for the polymerization of styrene-butadiene/isoprene-styrene triblock copolymer
A difunctional organolithium compound was prepared by the addition of butyllithium (BuLi) to 1,4-bis(4-meth-1-phenlethenyl)benzene (MPEB). The effects of the solvent, polar modifier (THF), butyl lithium structure, and reaction time on the formation of the difunctional organolithium compound were studied. Results showed that toluene as solvent was in favor of the addition reaction over cycohexane, in the absence of the polar modifier. However, cycohexane was a better option as solvent for the addition reaction, when polar modifier was employed. A small amount of polar modifier could efficiently accelerate the reaction rate and have no significant effect on the structure of the polydiene, which was initiated by the polar modifier containing organolithium compound. Results also showed that isobutyl lithium was more active in the addition reaction than n-butyl lithium, because of inductive effect. The optimum molar ratio of THF/Li+ was determined as 4. The THF containing difunctional organolithium cyclohexane solution was sequentially used in the step-wise polymerization of triblock thermoplastic copolymer SIBS. The so-prepared SIBS shared the similar phase separation structure with SBS and exhibited excellent mechanic properties. As the content of the central polyisoprene block increases, the tensile strength of the copolymer is decreased, and the elongation at break is increased. The glass transition temperature T-g of the central block was correlated with its content as T-g = 0.33 x -62.81, where x is the wt % of the central block, based on the triblock copolymer.
Keywords:difunctional organolithium;addition reaction;block copolymers;phase separation;glass transition;anionic polymerization