Cationic polymerization in liquid sulfur dioxide. I. Cationic polymerization of styrene with SnCl4

Cationic polymerization of styrene in liquied sulfur dioxide was carried out at 0 and 25° using SnCl 4 as a catalyst, and polystyrene was obtained very rapidly and in a quantitative yield. Flash polymerization was obtained with concentrations of stannic chloride above 10 −2 mole/1. The molecular weight of polystyrene thereby formed ranged from 2 × 10 4 to 9 × 10 4 at 0°, much greater than that obtained by cationic polymerization in organic...