Styryl terminated macromolecular monomers of polyethers

A polyether macromer having a styryl group near one end, a hydroxyl group at the other, and having a molecular weight distribution not exceeding 5.0 and being formed by polymerizing

• (A) a cationically ring-openable cyclic ether selected from the group consisting of
• (i) at least one alkylene oxide having the structure ##STR19## wherein, x is an integer in the range from 0 to about 4, except that when x>1, a second alkylene oxide having x=1 or 0 must be present, and,
• R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, C.sub.1 -C.sub.20 alkyl (having from 1 to about 20 carbon atoms) and haloalkyl, and, C.sub.6 -C.sub.20 aryl and aralkyl, and, at least one of R.sup.1, R.sup.2, and R.sup.3 is hydrogen;
• and,
• (ii) an aliphatic or aromatic glycidyl ether having the structure ##STR20## wherein R.sup.1 has the same connotation as hereinabove;
• and, R.sup.4 represents a member selected from the group consisting of C.sub.1 -C.sub.20 alkyl or substituted alkyl, haloalkyl, alkenyl substituted alkenyl, haloalkenyl, alkoxyalkyl, aryl (Ar), substituted aryl (Ar--Q), wherein Q is selected from the group consisting of C.sub.1 -C.sub.10 alkyl, haloalkyl, C.sub.2 -C.sub.10 alkenyl or haloalkenyl;
• and,
• (B) a monoolefinically ("styrylically") unsaturated primary or secondary alcohol represented by the structure ##STR21## wherein, G, if present, is in an ortho-, meta-, or para- position of the phenyl ring which may be substituted, said position being relative to that of the olefinically unsaturated group, and is a spacer selected from the group consisting of branched or linear alkyl, aralkyl, haloalkyl, haloaralkyl, alkoxyl, haloalkoxyl, aralkoxyl and haloaralkoxyl, each having from 1 to about 20 carbon atoms (C.sub.1 -C.sub.20);
• and,
• R.sup.5 and R.sup.6 are selected from from the group consisting of hydrogen, C.sub.1 -C.sub.10 alkyl (having from 1 to about 20 carbon atoms) and haloalkyl, and, at least one of R.sup.5 and R.sup.6 is always H;
• in the presence of an effective amount of
• (C) a cationic initiator selected from the group consisting of Friedel-Crafts acids, relatively strong protic organic and inorganic acids, oxonium salts and stable carbenium ions;
• so as to produce a macromer having the structure
• R--(M).sub.m --OH (IV)
• wherein
• R represents the residue of said styrylically unsaturated alcohol,
• M represents the residue of at least one said cyclic ether which is ring-opened, and,
• m represents an integer in the range from 2 to about 500;
• whereby said macromer is procuced in conjunction with at least a trace quantity of cyclic oligomer of said cyclic ether.

A block copolymer of a macromer represented by the formula

• A'A".sub.2
• wherein
• A' represents the residue of a polysiloxane block having the structure
• HR".sub.2 SiO[R".sub.2 SiO].sub.z SiR".sub.2 H (XV)
• in which R" is an unsubstituted or halogen-substituted monovalent hydrocarbon group and z is an integer in the range from 0 to about 300;
• and,
• A" represents the residue of a macromer having the structure ##STR25## wherein, G, if present, is in an ortho-, meta-, or para- position of the phenyl ring which may be substituted, said position being relative to that of the olefinically unsaturated group, and is a spacer selected from the group consisting of branched or linear alkyl, aralkyl, haloalkyl, haloaralkyl, alkoxyl, haloalkoxyl, aralkoxyl and haloaralkoxyl, each having from 1 to about 20 carbon atoms (C.sub.1 -C.sub.20);
• n is an integer in the range of from 2 to about 100 and,
• Z is the residue of an end-capping unit after it has been aminated.