Three chiral bulky vinyl monomers

(+)-4

4″-bis[(S)-2-methylbutoxy]-2′vinyl-para-terphenyl(p-BMVT)

(+)-3

3″-bis[(S)-2-methylbutoxy]-2′-vinyl-para-terphenyl(m-BMVT) and(+)-2

2″-bis[(S)-2-methylbutoxy]-2′-vinylpara-terphenyl(oBMVT) were synthesized.The later two were new molecules.The dependence of polymerizabilities of monomers on the chemical structures and the dependence of chiroptical properties of polymers on the chemical structures and reaction conditions were systematically studied.p-BMVT and m-BMVT were readily polymerized by radical mechanism to produce optically active helical polymers.Moving the chiral alkoxy groups on terphenyl by just a distance of one bond length inversed the direction of optical rotation.o-BMVT was obtained with quite low yield and couldn’t undergo radical polymerization.Using polar aromatic solvent and apolar aliphatic solvent

increasing reaction temperature

and reducing monomer concentration favored the formation of polymers with higher specific optical rotation.