Piloting of anionic polymerization of styrene in tetrahydrofurant

Abstract Anionic polymerization of styrene in THF with n ‐butyllithium/alpha‐methylstyrene initiator is described as a first step in preparation of a styrenic block copoly‐mer. In order to suppress rapid decay of living alpha‐methylstyrene unimers, which occurred at room temperature, the initiation reaction was carried out at −20(+5)°C. The kinetic parameters of this decay reaction were determined and used for process optimization. By …