Olefin graft copolymers prepared using borane-containing olefin backbone polymers

Claim 1

A graft copolymer having the formula selected from: ##STR3## wherein R 1 and R 2 are the same or different and are selected from the group consisting of H, C 1 to C 20 alkyl, phenyl and alkyl substituted phenyl; R 3 is a direct link or a divalent hydrocarbon having from 1 to 20 carbon atoms of linear or branched structure and comprises the residue from a group having the structure --R 3 BR 4 R 5 , where R 4 and R 5 are the same or different alkyl or cycloalkyl group containing from 1 to about 10 carbon atoms and R 3 is as defined above; W is a polar substituent group; M is the residue of a free radically polymerizable monomer; n is the degree of polymerization of M ranging from 1 to about 70,000; (diene) is a recurring segment of a polymerized diolefin monomer; x ranges from about 50 to about 70,000; (a) ranges from 0 to about 20,000; and the sum of (b) and (c) ranges up to about 20,000 with the proviso that (b) or (c) is at least 1 when the other of (b) or (c) is 0; wherein said graft copolymer having the formula I is prepared by: (i) contacting in the presence of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst a mixture of at least one C 2 to C 22 alpha-monoolefin and a borane-containing monomer having the structure CH 2 ═CH(CH 2 ) m --BR 4 R 5 wherein m is an integer of from 3 to 12 and R 4 and R 5 are as described above, to form a copolymer product having borane-containing units in the copolymer chain; and (ii) contacting the copolymer formed in step (i) with at least one free radically polymerizable monomer in the presence of an oxidative reagent to convert at least one of said borane-containing units to a free radical which, in turn, initiates free radical polymerization of said free radically polymerizable monomer, thereby forming said graft copolymer having the formula I; and, wherein said graft copolymer having the formula II is prepared by: (iii) reacting a diene copolymer of at least one C 2 to C 22 alpha olefin and at least one conjugated or non-conjugated diene with a hydroboration reagent to incorporate borane-containing units into the diene copolymer chain; and (iv) contacting the borane-containing diene copolymer formed in step (iii) with at least one free radically polymerizable monomer in the presence of an oxidative reagent to convert at least one of said borane-containing units to a free radical which, in turn, initiates free radical polymerization of said free radically polymerizable monomer, thereby forming said graft copolymer having the formula II.