The (E) isomer in mixtures of (E) and (Z) 1,3-hexadiene was polymerized with the system CoCl 2 (P i PrPh 2 ) 2 -MAO, a highly active and stereospecific catalyst for the preparation of 1,2 syndiotactic polybutadiene. A new crystalline polymer with a melting point of 109 8C was obtained. The polymer was characterized by IR, NMR ( 13 C, 1 H in solution and 13 C in the solid-state), X-ray diffraction, DSC, GPC and it was found to have a trans-1,2 syndiotactic structure with a 5.18 6 0.04 Å fiber periodicity. Since only the (E) isomer was polymerized, at the end of the reaction we were able to separate the (Z) isomer, which was ultimately polymerized with CpTiCl 3 -MAO at low temperature, obtaining a low molecular weight, stereoregular polymer that, characterized by IR and NMR methods, was found to exhibit a cis-1,2 syndiotactic structure, never reported before. Molecular mechanics calculations were carried out on the trans-1,2 syndiotactic polymer and structural models consistent with the Xray diffraction data are proposed. Figure 11. Views (side view of the chain and projection down the chain axis) of the trans-planar conformation of trans-1,2 syndiotactic poly(1,3-hexadiene) characterized by glide-symmetry (a) and twofold axis (b).
5348RICCI ET AL.