Specific features of coupling reactions of polystyrene in the presence α-dinitrones based on glyoxal

Bromine-containing polystyrene synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization was used as a model to study coupling reactions in the presence of such free radical acceptors as conjugated dinitrones (N, N-dimethylglyoxaldinitrone, N, N-di-tert-butylglyoxaldinitrone, and N, N-diphenylglyoxaldinitrone). The influence of the reaction conditions, including the ratio of reagents, on the molecular weight characteristics of resulting products and the kinetics of the process was evaluated. It was shown that the proposed method allows one to synthesize polystyrene which contains in the middle of the chain an alkoxyamine functional group with a labile >C-ON C-ON< bond cleavage formed in the presence of α-dinitrones.