Methacrylic acid (0.1 mol) and tri-n-butylhydroxystannane (0.1 mol) were dissolved in xylene and subjected to reaction. The water that formed as the reaction proceeded was removed together with the solvent by distillation. The by-product of the reaction was distilled off under vacuum and the residue was dried under vacuum to obtain tri-n-butylstannyl methacrylate (m.p. 46° C.; yield, 64%). This tri-n-butylstannyl methacrylate and ethyl methacrylate were put into a round-bottom flask at a molar ratio of 1:1 and xylene was added to achieve a concentration of ca. 50%. Benzoyl peroxide (1 mol % of the sum of tri-n-butylstannyl methacrylate and ethyl methacrylate) dissolved in xylene was charged into a dropping funnel. After equipping the flask with this funnel, the benzoyl peroxide solution was dripped in an amount of about 10% of the total quantity of the solution. Thereafter, the flask was heated to the reflux temperature and the remaining polymerization initiator was slowly added dropwise until the reaction was completed in 8 hours. After the reaction, the content of the flask was added to n-hexane and subjected to re-precipitation. The resulting precipitate was recovered and dried to obtain a solid product, which was slowly added to ice water and reprecipitated. The precipitate was recovered and dried to obtain poly(tri-n-butylstannyl methacrylate-ethyl methacrylate). Yield, 80%, Mn, 48,000; Mw/Mn=1.9, IR (ν cm-1), 1720, 1160, 760, 700; atomic absorption spectrum (Sn content), 24.90 (found) and 24.98 (calculated).
