Question: Polystyrene can be obtained by ionic polymerization of styrene using n-butyllithium (n-BuLi) in hexane as a solvent under argon. Water is known to react with

Polystyrene can be obtained by ionic polymerization of styrene using n-butyllithium (n-BuLi) in hexane as a solvent under argon. Water is known to react with n-BuLi to form inactive LiOH. The only source of water in the polymerization vessel is from the extensively dried hexane, which contains 2 ppm of water (2 x 10-6 g water/mL hexane). The concentration of the monomer in the beginning of the polymerization is 1M. In order to obtain 10 g of polystyrene with a number average molecular weight of 100,000 g/mol, calculate: a) The volume of solvent hexane needed; and b) The volume of 1 M n-BuLi needed. Assume the conversion at the end of the polymerization is 100%.

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