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Synfacts 2011(9): 0962-0962  
DOI: 10.1055/s-0030-1261015
Synthesis of Materials and Unnatural Products
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart ˙ New York

Taming the Anion

Contributor(s): Timothy M. Swager, Jason R. Cox
A. Hirao*, S. Tanaka, R. Goseki, T. Ishizone
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
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Publication History

Publication Date:
19 August 2011 (online)

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Significance

The authors describe a new approach to the living anionic polymerization of 1,4-divinylbenzene, a molecule that is typically used as a cross-linker. During their efforts, they discovered that addition of excess t-BuOK to the polymerization conditions afforded a high molecular weight polymer (26,400 g/mol) with a low polydispersity index (1.04). The living nature of this polymerization allowed the authors to generate block copolymers containing poly-1,4-divinylbenzene.