Cationic copolymerization of 1,3-pentadiene with α-pinene

Abstract The cationic copolymerization of 1,3-pentadiene (PD) with α-pinene (AP) initiated by aluminum trichloride (AlCl3) was carried out in N-pentane solvent. The effects of the polymerization temperature and the comonomer composition on the yield of the copolymer, softening point, Gardner color scale and number-average molecular weight (Mn) are discussed. The performance of the copolymer was better than that of AP homopolymer (PAP) and PD homopolymer (PPD). The structure of the copolymer was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), 13C-NMR, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). In addition, the reactivity ratios for AP (M1) and PD (M2) determined by the Kelen-Tudos method from low-conversion data are r1=0.58 and r2=5.92, respectively.