Controlling Heat Transfer for the Manufacturing of High Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene via Formation of Micelles

An alternative cationic polymerization method is developed to produce high molecular weight polyisobutylene (HM-PIB) with molecular weights above 5 × 105 g/mol. The method involves micelle formation via functionalized low molecular weight polyisobutylene (LM-PIB) in non-polar solvent. One end of LM-PIB is modified with an imidazolium-containing ionic group, which together with the anion (e.g. Al2Cl7) works as Lewis acid. While the monomer isobutylene dissolves readily in non-polar solvent, polymerization can occur only within the micelle, which affords stable HM-PIB particles. HM-PIB with a molecular weight (MW) close to 1 × 106 g/mol was produced successfully with the described method.