NEW POLYMERS AND COPOLYMERS AND METHOD AND INITIATION SYSTEM FOR THEIR PREPARATION

The invention relates to polymers and copolymers on the basis of cationically polymerizable monomers; which may be obtained by the following method with a new initiation system: (co)polymerization of one or more cationically polymerizable monomers in the presence of an initiation system comprising (A1) a polymer, an oligomer and/or a low-molecular weight alkyl halide, comprising at least 5 carbon atoms and at least one chlorine atom bond to a secondary carbon atom, and/or (A2) a polymer, an oligomer and/or a low-molecular weight alkyl halide, comprising at least 4 carbon atoms and at least one halogenatom bond to a tertiary carbon atom, and (B) SnCl4, eventually in admixture with FeCl3 and/or BCl3, at a molar ratio of the Lewis acid(s) to the monomer(s) of 10 to 50, at -100 to +20 DEG C, optionally in a polar halogenated solvent. Suitable monomers are isobutene, 1-butene, isoprene, 1,3-butadiene, 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene, styrene, alpha -methylstyrene, 1,3-pentadiene and chloroprene. a