Anionic synthesis of aromatic carboxyl functionalized polymers. Chain-end functionalization of poly(styryl)lithium with 4,5-dihydro-4,4-dimethyl-2-[4-(1-phenylethenyl)phenyl] oxazole

The novel syntheses of 4-(4,5-dihydro-4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazolyl)benzophenone, 1-[4-(4,5-dihydro-4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazolyl)phenyl]-1-phenylethanol and 4,5-dihydro-4,4-dimethyl-2-[4-(1-phenylethenyl)phenyl]oxazole ( 1 ) are described. ω-Oxazolyl polystyrene ( 2 ) was synthesized in quantitative yields by the reaction of poly(styryl)lithium with stoichiometric amounts of 4,5-dihydro-4,4-dimethyl-2-[4-(1-phenylethenyl)phenyl]oxazole ( 1 ) in toluene/tetrahydrofuran (4 : 1 v/v) at −78°C. Deblocking of the oxazoline protecting group by acid hydrolysis followed by saponification quantitatively provides the corresponding aromatic carboxyl chain-end functionalized polystyrene ( 3 ). The functionalization agent and functionalized polymers were characterized by HPLC, thin layer chromatography, size exclusion chromatography, vapor phase osmometry, spectroscopy (¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and FTIR), potentiometry and elemental analysis.