Electrostatic Effects on the Oxidative Polymerization of 2,6-Xylenol Catalyzed by Copper—Partially-quaternized Poly(vinylpyridine) Complexes

2,6-Xylenol (XOH) was oxidatively polymerized by the Cu (II)—partially-quaternized poly (vinylpyridine) (QPVP) complexes in a homogeneous dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) solution, and the electrostatic effects of the Cu-QPVP complex on the catalytic activity were discussed. The Cu-QPVP complex has a chelate structure in DMSO. The rate of polymerization of XOH by the Cu-QPVP catalyst was larger than that of the Cu-pyridine (Py) or the Cu-poly (vinylpyridine) (PVP) catalyst. The results of the measurement of kinetic constants, the neutral salt effects and the influence of the monomer species, indicate that the higher activity of the Cu-QPVP catalyst was ascribed to the electrostatic action of the Cu-QPVP complex as a polyca-tion. Moreover, the Cu-QPVP complex showed the higher catalytic activity when the degree of quaternization of QPVP was about 20~50%. The catalytic activity tends to become larger as increasing the degree of polymerization of QPVP.