Abstract
To overcome the difficulties encountered with the existing methods of synthesis, a new method for synthesizing monodisperse polystyrene, carboxylated to various levels, was developed. It consists of a mild Friedel--Crafts acylation of polystyrene with ethyl oxalyl chloride (Cl--CO--CO--O--CH sub 2 CH sub 3 ) followed by saponification of the resulting alpha -keto ester. Infrared, proton, and exp 13 C NMR spectroscopy, together with viscometry and gel permeation chromatography were used to characterize the starting materials and products. The carboxylated polystyrene can be converted into P sub S -COCl and P sub S -CH sub 2 OH which can be used for a variety of research purposes where monodisperse polymer chains of varying degrees of functionality are required. 10 ref.--AA