Facile Synthesis of Novel Polyethylene-Based A-B-C Block Copolymers Containing Poly(methyl methacrylate) Using a Living Polymerization System.

Ethylene-propylene-methyl methacrylate (MMA) and ethylene-hexene-MMA A-B-C block copolymers with high molecular weight (>100,000) are synthesized using fluorenylamide-ligated titanium complex activated by modified methylaluminoxane and 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol for the first time. After diblock copolymerization of olefin is conducted completely, MMA is added and activated by aluminum Lewis acid to promote anionic polymerization. The length of polyolefin and poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is controllable precisely by the change of the additive amount of olefin and polymerization time, respectively. A soft amorphous polypropylene or polyhexene segment is located between two hard segments of semicrystalline polyethylene and glassy PMMA blocks.
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