Nitroxide radicals. Part XI. Polymerisation of t-butyl vinylphenyl nitroxides

Abstract

t-Butyl o-, m-, and p-vinylphenyl nitroxides, t-butyl p-(β- and α-phenylvinyl)phenyl nitroxides have been prepared. t-Butyl-p-vinylphenyl nitroxide and the two last-mentioned radicals on isolation polymerised rapidly and spontaneously by a route involving O to β-C coupling while the other two decomposed more slowly and were sufficiently stable to be used as monomers in anionic polymerisation experiments. Although the monomeric radicals could not be polymerised alone, paramagnetic copolymers with styrene and α-methylstyrene were isolated and characterised.