Polystyrene copper(II) complex containing azacrown ether functional groups as catalyst for room-temperature polymerization of MMA

A surface-modified cross-linked polystyrene metal complex (PS-DCTACE-Cu(II)) is applied as catalyst of methyl methacrylate (MMA) heterogeneous polymerization at ambient temperature in Na2SO3 aqueous solution. The catalyst has excellent mechanical property and is easy to be separate from reaction system and recycled. The mechanism of polymerization, a process of 'chloridion leaving-hydrogen transfer', was also studied in this paper.