Abstract
The bulk copolymerization of styrene (ST) and 2.3 Dihydro-4H-pyran (DHP) catalyzed by 12-tungstophosphoric (H3PW12O40) acid was investigated. The polymerization was achieved in mild conditions by a very simple procedure and the catalyst was recovered by simple filtration. The obtained polymers were characterized by means of FTIR, H-1-NMR, viscosity measurement, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetry (TGA). The results indicated the formation of a copolymers and a homopolymer. The polymerization involved exclusively C=C bonds of the vinyl cyclic ether. Propagation by ring-opening was not observed. The effect of the temperature and the DHP proportion on the polymerization showed that low temperatures and high DHP proportion increased the polymerization conversion.