The determination of sequence distribution in the living anionic copolymerization of styrene and strong electron-donating DPE derivative-1,1-bis(4-N,N-dimethylanimophenyl)ethylene

Abstract Sequence distribution in the Living anionic copolymerization of Styrene and strong electron-donating DPE derivative, i.e. the 1,1-bis(4- N,N -dimethylanimophenyl)ethylene (DPE-(NMe 2 ) 2 ), was investigated by a timing-sample method. The target taken samples were characterized by SEC and 1 H NMR in detail According to the research data based on integrating all the taken samples, the synthesized copolymer exhibited gradient structure that most polar dimethylamino groups distributed at the end section along whole polymer chains. In addition, the apparent rate constants of styrene and DPE-(NMe 2 ) 2 were calculated (at 24 °C) as follows: K st  = 0.036 min −1 (R 2  = 0.995), K DPE  = 8.40 × 10 −5  min −1 (R 2  = 0.998), respectively. It is hardly to prepare the alternating structure just through increasing the monomer feed ratios.