Synthesis and characterization of topologically interesting vinyl polymers

A series of macrocyclic poly(2‐vinylpyridine)&s were synthesized by high dilution (∼10−5 M) coupling of the two‐ended living precursor dianions with 1, 2‐ and 1, 4‐bis‐(bromomethyl)benzene (1, 2‐ or 1, 4‐DBX). SEC measurements indicate that the macrocycles contain less than 5% linear precursor and that the hydrodynamic size of the macrocycles is substantially (∼30%) less than that of the linear precursor. At very low MW, the sizes of macrocyclic and linear polymers differ less, particularly for the case of the 1, 2‐DBX product. Viscometry measurements in THF of linear and macrocyclic polymers also indicated substantial size differences of linear and macrocyclic P2VP. The values of the glass transition temperature (Tg) for both the 1, 2‐ and 1, 4‐DBX macrocycles were found to increase with decreasing MW as qualitatively predicted by entropy calculations. Thus, as the degree of polymerization decreases, the macrocyclic chains become conformationally stiffer and this is reflected by higher Tg values. The differences in Tg between linear and macrocyclic P2VP are quite large (∼40K) around a DP of 40 and decrease to values of a few degrees at a DP of around 200. These differences are diagnostically useful in estimating the linear content of the macrocycles below a DP of 100.