A study of the configurational properties of high polymers in solution and in bulk

The polymerisation of the cyclic ethers oxacyclobutane and tetrahydrofuran to poly(trimethylene oxide) and poly(tetramethylene oxide) has been achieved using p-chlorophenyldiazonium hexafluorophosphate catalyst. Their unperturbed dimensions and dipole moments have been investigated. Single theta solvents, cyclohexane at 25.0°C for poly(trimethylene oxide) and 1-hexene at 44.8°C for poly(tetramethylene oxide) were found, and from viscometry and light scattering the unperturbed dimensions of the two polymers were determined. As an alternative, unperturbed dimensions for poly(trimethylene oxide), from intrinsic viscosities in non-ideal solvents, using the Stockmayer–Fixman and Kurata–Stockmayer extrapolation techniques, were obtained. [Continues.]