Epoxidation of partially hydrogenated styrene-butadiene block copolymers using peracetic acid in a cyclohexane/water heterogeneous system

The preparation of partially saturated lightly functionalized styrene-butadiene block copolymers of polyA-block-polyB-block-polyA type (SBS) is described. The work involves epoxidizing partially hydrogenated SBS block copolymers using peracetic acid in a cyclohexane/water heterogeneous system. Five partially hydrogenated model polymers containing low levels of unsaturated aliphatic double bonds were used to study the epoxidation reaction and kinetics. The existence of the epoxide functional group on the product polymer was evidenced by IR and ¹H-NMR spectra and the epoxide concentration was determined by direct titration. The partially hydrogenated SBS copolymers were more difficult to epoxidize than the unhydrogenated ones. The temperature dependence of the epoxidation rate was studied and the activation energy was determined as 8.8 kcal/mole of double bonds. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.