Copolymerization of styrene with butadiene and isoprene using a rare earth catalyst

In the copolymerization of styrene-butadiene and styrene-isoprene, a novel rare earth catalyst system (CF3CO2)(3)Ln/R(3-n)AlH(n)/(CH3)(3)CCH2Br (Ln = Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu; R = Me-, Et-, i-Bu-, and Oct-; n = 0 and 1) has been studied. The 1, 4 unit contents in the copolymers obtained are found to range from 64.4 to 99.6% with St contents of 5.2 to 59.9%, and intrinsic viscosities of 0.1 to 0.5 dl g(-1) measured by i.r., H-1 n.m.r. and C-13 n.m.r. spectra. From the calculated data of linked ratios, a change in the microstructure is induced by the styrene unit, probably adjacent to the butadiene or isoprene unit. An interesting result is that the ratios of styrene unit linked with 1, 2 or 3,4 units in the copolymers are far higher than in copolymers obtained with the nickel catalyst. The experimental results are discussed in terms of rare earth pi-allyl coordination and back-biting mechanism.