摘要 |
The process of producing a ring-opening metathesis polymer of the present invention is mainly characterized in that a treatment to decrease the amount of oxygen and/or peroxide in at least one kind of polymerization starting material is performed prior to the ring-opening metathesis polymerization reaction of a cyclic olefin performed in the presence of a ruthenium carbene complex (catalyst). As used herein, the "polymerization starting material" refers to various materials used for a ring-opening metathesis polymerization reaction and present in the reaction system, such as ruthenium carbene complex (catalyst) and cyclic olefin (monomer), as well as solvents, chain transfer agents and the like. In addition, the method for a treatment to decrease the amount of oxygen and/or peroxide include a method comprising applying an adsorbent to a polymerization starting material to remove oxygen and/or peroxide by adsorption, a method comprising applying an antioxidant to a polymerization starting material to decompose oxygen or peroxide and the like. According to the present invention, a ring-opening metathesis polymer can be produced at a higher reaction rate without degrading the high activity inherently possessed by a' ruthenium carbene complex (catalyst). Because of being free of a decrease in the concentration of the catalyst maintaining the high activity during reaction, the thus-obtained polymer shows a small difference between polymerization lots and becomes homogeneous, and a polymer having a comparatively sharp molecular weight distribution can be produced.
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