Block Polymers

Block polymers represent another milestone in the preparation of polymers of controlled structure. Catalysts and polymerization methods that allowed the preparation of polymers in which the stereo- and geometric isomerism of the monomer units could be con­ trolled have indeed been among the major developments in polymer science during the last decade. The synthesis of block polymers, in which the sequence length of the comonomer units can be con­ trolled, portends equally important developments in the science and technology of polymers. The papers collected in this volume cover primarily the pro­ ceedings of the most recent symposium on block polymers, sponsored by the Division of Polymer Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. It was held in New York City during the Society's 158th National Meeting in September, 1969. Additional contributions from selected authors were invited especially for this book to achieve the most up-to-date account of the advances that have been made since the development of the thermoplastic elastomers that first brought into focus this important area of research. The first two papers in this volume draw attention to the various problems that should be considered in the preparation of block polymers of precisely defined structure from styrene and butadiene or isoprene by anionic polymerization. Characterization of block polymers presents many problems and there is a paucity of systematic work in this area. Attention has been given to the di­ lute solution properties of block polymers,however, in one of the papers in this volume.