Macromonomers on the basis of 2‐phenyl‐2‐oxazoline

By initiation of the ring‐opening polymerization of 2‐phenyl‐2‐oxazoline (1) with p‐iodomethylstyrene a macromonomer with a styrene end‐group (2) is obtained. The degree of polymerization was varied between 10 and 16. The radical copolymerization of 2 with styrene is described. 1 forms with methyl triflate a very stable oxazolinium salt which is a good initiator for the bulk polymerization of 1 at temperatures of 50–70°C. It was conclusively proved that under these conditions the polymerization proceeds by a living mechanism. By termination with N, N‐dimethylaminopropylmeth‐acrylamide a macromonomer (5) was obtained. 5 can be radically homopolymerized. This comb‐like polymer 6 has the typical behaviour of a poly‐electrolyte and a polymeric amphiphile.