A series of biseyclopentadienyl tetraearbonyl di-iron complexes
[cp’Fe(CO)2]2(Cp’=C5H5
C9H7
C5HMe4
Me3SiC5
C5HPh4
t-BuC5H4)
were employedforthe radical polymerization of styreneintoluene using Me2CBrCO2Et as initiator.It was found that the polymerization was uncontrollable for systems of [C5H5Fe(CO)2]2 and[C9H7Fe(CO)2]2.When the bulky substituents were introduced to the cyclopentadienyl rings
the polymerization rates became much slower When [C5HPh
Fe(CO)2]2 was used to catalyze the bulk polymerization of styrene
although the molecular weight distribution was somewhat broad
the molecular weisht Mn increased linearly with the converisou rate and the measured Mn values were very close to the thoretical values
indicating that the molecularweight is controllable.For the system of [(t-BuC5H4)Fe(CO)2]2
the molecular weight Mn increased linearly with the converison rate and the molecular weight distribution decreased with convemion increasing
indicating the polymerization system is controllable.