The effect of ligand molecular weight on copper salt catalyzed oxidative coupling polymerization of 2,6‐dimethylphenol

Abstract Polyphenylene oxide (PPO) was prepared via oxidative coupling polymerization of 2,6‐dimethylphenol (DMP) catalyzed by copper salt. The ligand was a novel series of random copolymers (PSVP) of styrene and 4‐vinylpyridine prepared by reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) copolymerization. The copolymers with well‐controlled molecular weight (MW) were used to study the effects of ligand molecular weight on the catalytic …