Polyethers. XIII. The effects of catalyst concentration and oxygen on the polymerization of 4-halo-2,6-dimethylphenol

The oxidative polymerization of haloxylenol has been found to be markedly faster than earlier reports. With 10 mole-% of ferricyanide initiator it was complete in less than 1 min. at 5°C. Oxygen can act as initiator but also results in a decreased molecular weight. Increase in ferricyanide initiator concentration from 1 to 10 mole-% resulted in a remarkable increase in conversion and a small increase in molecular weight. Polymer prepared with ferricyanide initiator under nitrogen had a large excess of halogen over phenolic endgroups, rather than the one-to-one ratio, found earlier for polymer prepared under air.