Patent ID: 7385009

Claim:
A process for the preparation of a narrow molecular weight distributed hydroxy-vinyl aromatic oligomer, cooligomer, polymer or copolymer with a polydispersity M w /M n between 1 and 2, which process comprises the steps reacting a composition of at least one monomer of formula I wherein R 1 is H or CH 3 ; R 2 and R 3 are independently hydrogen, C 1 -C 8 alkyl, C 1 -C 8 alkoxy, C 1 -C 8 alkoxycarbonyl, C 1 -C 8 alkylthio, C 1 -C 8 dialkylamino, trihalogenmethyl; R 4 is C 1 -C 12 alkyl or benzyl which is unsubstituted or substituted with one or two C 1 -C 8 alkyl, C 1 -C 8 alkoxy, C 1 -C 8 alkoxycarbonyl, C 1 -C 8 alkylthio, C 1 -C 8 dialkylamino, trihalogenmethyl, halogen; or R 4 is a group phenyl(methyl)CH—, (phenyl) 2 CH—, C 1 -C 12 alkyl-O—C(O)—, phenyl-CH 2 —O—C(O)— or (phenyl) 2 CH—O—C(O)—; a1) in the presence of at least one nitroxylether having the structural element wherein X represents a group having at least one carbon atom and is such that the free radical X. derived from X is capable of initiating polymerization of ethylenically unsaturated monomers; or a2) in the presence of at least one stable free nitroxyl radical and a free radical initiator; or a3) in the presence of a compound of formula (III) and a catalytically effective amount of an oxidizable transition metal complex catalyst, wherein p represents a number greater than zero and defines the number of initiator fragments; q represents a number greater than zero; [ln] represents a radically transferable atom or group capable of initiating polymerization and -[Hal] represents a leaving group; or a4) in an anionic polymerization reaction in the presence of a metal or organo metal catalyst; and optionally simultaneously or in a subsequent step with one or more ethylenically unsaturated monomers different from those of formula (I); and b) isolating the resulting oligomer, cooligomer, polymer or copolymer and subjecting it to a reaction with a halosilane giving a polymer with repeating units of formula II and with a degree of OH-groups of between 10 mol % and 100 mol %, based on the molar amount of protected hydroxy-vinyl aromatic monomer of formula I.