60Co-initiated polymerization of styrene,vinyl acetate,and their mixtures in the presence of a radical initiator

Styrene and vinyl acetate have been polymerized by γ-radiation in the presence of α,α′-azobisisobutyronitrile or benzoyl peroxide. Benzoyl peroxide does not affect the vinyl acetate polymerization, but the rate of polymerization is greatly increased by the action of the initiator in the case of the following systems: styrene–α,α′-azobisisobutyronitrile, styrene–benzoyl peroxide, and vinyl acetate–α,α′-azobisisobutyronitrile. For these three systems, the experimental results are in good agreement with a kinetic scheme obtained by assuming an energy transfer process from monomer excited molecules to the initiator; this process does not occur in the first system, and the initiation rate is determined only by the vinyl acetate concentration. In the case of the polymerization of mixtures of the two monomers, the action of α,α′-azobisisobutyronitrile and that of benzoyl peroxide are practically the same; that is, the shape of the polymerization curve may be understood on the basis of an energy transfer from styrene excited molecules to the initiator.     

The mechanism of copolymerization of maleic anhydride with styrene and with vinyl acetate

A nonaqueous potentiometric direct titration method was used to determine the composition diagrams for the copolymerization of maleic anhydride with styrene and with vinyl acetate in methyl ethyl ketone at 50°C. The data were analyzed using nonlinear least-squares minimization routines to fit composition equations for the terminal, penultimate, and complex models directly. The applicability of each model to both systems were evaluated statistically. The penultimate model was found to best describe both systems, although in the case of the maleic anhydride/vinyl acetate system this was only a small improvement over the terminal model. Although significant comonomer complexation occurs in both systems, the complex model did not provide statistically significant improvement in fit to the data compared with the terminal model.     

The electrocopolymerization of styrene with vinyl acetate in an organic solvent

Copolymers of styrene and vinyl acetate were synthesized electrochemically. The reaction system was composed of methylene chloride as the solvent, and a quaternary ammonium salt as the electrolyte. The reactions were run in a divided cell and the influence of current strength, reaction time, and temperature on the yield, molecular weight, and chemical composition of the resulting copolymers was investigated. It was found that the polymer chains were composed mainly of styrene units.     

Asymmetric induction copolymerization of optically active l-menthyl vinyl ether with styrene and N-phenylmaleimide

The copolymerizations of l-menthyl vinyl ether (l-MVE) with styrene (St) and N-phenylmaleimide (N-PMI) as comonomers were carried out in benzene with azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator to give optically active copolymers. After the removal of the optically active menthyl group by use of hydrogen bromide gas, the ether-cloven l-MVE-N-PMI copolymer (VA-N-PMI) was still optically active. On the other hand, the optical activity of l-MVE-St copolymer disappeared after ether cleavage. It is thought that asymmetric induction took place in the polymer main chains. The optical rotatory dispersion and circular dichroism of the original and ether-cloven copolymers were measured in order to confirm the asymmetric induction.     

P-chiral phosphine-sulfonate/palladium-catalyzed asymmetric copolymerization of vinyl acetate with carbon monoxide

Utilization of palladium catalysts bearing a P-chiral phosphine-sulfonate ligand enabled asymmetric copolymerization of vinyl acetate with carbon monoxide. The obtained γ-polyketones have head-to-tail and isotactic polymer structures. The origin of the regio- and stereoregularities was elucidated by stoichiometric reactions of acylpalladium complexes with vinyl acetate. The present report for the first time demonstrates successful asymmetric coordination-insertion (co)polymerization of vinyl acetate.     

Structure-reactivity relations of conjugated and unconjugated monomers: Acrylates and methyl vinyl ketone in copolymerization with styrene compared with vinyl esters in copolymerization with ethylene

This article describes the copolymerization of methyl vinyl ketone (MVK), methyl acrylate (MA), and methyl methacrylate (MMA) with styrene (St) as reference monomer at 3.4 MPa and 335 K with toluene as solvent. In addition, the effect of pressure on the binary copolymerizations of St-Ma-MMA is discussed. It appearsthat in case of conjugated monomers reactivity decreases as the electron-donating character of the substituents increases, whereas the reverse is found in unconjugated monomers. This is explained by the finding that in conjugated monomers resonance effects induced by polar factors play a dominant role, whereas in unconjugated monomers mainly polar factors are governing the relative reactivities. The r values at 3.4 MPa are compared with those predicted by means of the Q-e scheme and Patterns. No definite conclusions could be drawn about the applicability and validity of either scheme, although Patterns shows excellent result in case of the H function of Mayo. In vinyl ester copolymerizations and Le Noble and Asano's example of the menshutkin reaction one single factor (polarity and steric hindrance, successively) dominates ΔG#, ΔG and ΔV#. This allows a straight forward interpretation of the result with the Hammond postulate and is in full agreement with Evan's potential-energy calculations. In conjugated monomers, however, an interplay of reasonance and polar factors is found. The general validity of these findings needs further experimental and theoretical support.     

Dispersion copolymerization of styrene and other vinyl monomers in polar solvents

Dispersion polymerization is a very attractive method for preparing micrometer‐size monodisperse polymer particles. The applications of microspheres have been greatly expanded by the use of copolymers. Here, the dispersion copolymerization of styrene and seven other vinyl monomers was carried out in polar solvents. The effect of the different comonomers on the particle size was systematically investigated. The particle size first decreased and then increased with an increasing fraction of acrylamide in the monomer feed, and at a higher fraction of such a comonomer, only a gel‐like polymer was obtained. The particle size also increased with the increase in the contents of the hydrophilic comonomers in the monomer mixtures, and the copolymer molecular weight decreased meanwhile. Although the amount of the hydrophobic comonomer in the monomer mixture changed, the particle size was hardly affected. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 39: 555–561, 2001     

Semicontinuous seeded emulsion copolymerization of vinyl acetate and methyl acrylate

The semicontinuous seeded emulsion copolymerization of vinyl acetate and methyl acrylate was investigated. The effect of type of process (starved process versus semi-starved process), type of feed (neat monomer addition versus monomer emulsion addition), amount of seed initially charged in the reactor, and feed rate on the time evolution of the overall conversion, copolymer composition, and polymer particle size was analyzed. It was found that, in the case of the starved process, both monomers, but mainly vinyl acetate, accumulated in the reactor. The preferential accumulation of vinyle acetate resulted in a drift of the copolymer composition. Both monomers accumulation and copolymer composition drift were reduced by increasing the amount of seed initially charged in the reactor and by decreasing the feed rate. For the semi-starved process, it was found that a vinyl aceatate rich copolymer was formed when a low methyl acrylate feed was used, whereas a methyl acrylate rich copolymer was obtained at high methyl acrylate feed rates. For both starved process and semi-starved process, the total number of polymer particles, after an initial increase, reached a plateau value which was the same in all of the experiments carried out. These results were analyzed by means of a mathematical model developed for this system.     

Graft copolymerization of styrene on rubber containing halogen by chromous acetate

Graft copolymerization of styrene on rubber containing chlorine, e.g., chloroprene rubber (CR) and chlorosulfonated polyethylene (Hypalon), with chromous acetate (Cr²⁺) was carried out in DMF–THF mixed solvent at 50°C. From the kinetic study, the normal kinetic orders with respect to the concentration of initiator and monomer were obtained at low concentrations of CR, but the deviation from conventional first-order to second-order kinetics with respect to the monomer concentration was observed at high CR concentrations: R_p ∝ [CR]^1/2 [Cr₂₊]^1/2[styrene]¹ (at low CR concentration); R_p ∝ [CR]^1/2 [Cr₂₊]^1/2[styrene]¹ (at high CR concentration). This result was explained in terms of the high viscosity of the reaction medium due to the rubber contained in solution. An initiation site along the polymer chain was assumed from the graft copolymerization with three kinds of CR having different microstructures. The results of fractionation of obtained polymer showed that the graft efficiency was high but a large amount of gel was formed.     

Radiation-induced copolymerization of hydrophilic monomers with vinyl acetate: Synthesis and thermal properties

Radiation-induced copolymerization of hydrophili+ monomers, viz., 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA), and N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) with vinyl acetate (VAc) was carried out in bulk at 25°C. The copolymer composition was determined from the acetoxy content. The copolymerization parameters were determined by a graphical method and compared with those determined by the Yezrielev, Brokhina, and Roskin (YBR) method. Thermal properties of copolymers were studied by GC-MS. Probable mechanisms were suggested from the products obtained.     

Anionic copolymerization of [60]fullerene with styrene initiated by sodium naphthalene

The novel C₆₀–styrene copolymers with different C₆₀ contents were prepared in sodium naphthalene-initiated anionic polymerization reactions. Like the pure polystyrene, these copolymers exhibited the high solvency in many common organic solvents, even for the copolymer with high C₆₀ content. In the polymerization process of C₆₀ with styrene an important side reaction, i.e., reaction of C₆₀ with sodium naphthalene, would occur simultaneously, whereas crosslinking reaction may be negligible. ¹³C-NMR results provided an evidence that C₆₀ was incorporated covalently into the polystyrene backbone. In contrast to pure polystyrene, the TGA spectrum of copolymer containing ∼ 13% of C₆₀ shows two plateaus. The polystyrene chain segment in copolymer decomposed first at 300–400°C. Then the fullerene units reptured from the corresponding polystyrene fragments attached directly to the C₆₀ cores at 500–638°C. XRD evidence indicates that the degree of order of polymers increases with the fullerene content increased in terms of crystallography. Incorporation of C₆₀ into polystyrene results in the formation of new crystal gratings or crystallization phases. In addition, it was also found that [60]fullerene and its polyanion salts [C₆₀ⁿ⁻(M⁺)_n, M = Li, Na] cannot be used to initiate the anionic polymerization of some monomers such as acrylonitrile and styrene, etc.© 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. B Polym. Phys. 36: 2653–2663, 1998     

Miniemulsion copolymerization of vinyl acetate and butyl acrylate. IV. Kinetics of the copolymerization

The copolymerization kinetics of conventional emulsions and miniemulsions of 50:50 and 25:75 molar ratios vinyl acetate–butyl acrylate monomer mixtures were studied using sodium hexadecyl sulfate as surfactant. Hexadecane was the cosurfactant used in the preparation of the miniemulsions, and ammonium persulfate was the initiator used in the polymerizations. The rate of polymerization showed four regions which extended to different conversions depending on the type of emulsion used (conventional or miniemulsion). The rate of polymerization for the miniemulsion process was always slower than for the conventional process. The dependence of the rate on the initiator concentration was higher for the miniemulsion process. The number of particles nucleated in the miniemulsion copolymerization process was lower than in the conventional emulsion copolymerization process. The initiator and surfactant concentration dependence of the number of particles were 0.8 and 0.25 for the miniemulsion copolymerization process and 0.0 and 0.68 for the conventional emulsion copolymerization process respectively. These effects were attributed to the different particle nucleation mechanism operating in each process.     

Effect of solvent on the copolymerization of ethylene and vinyl acetate

The ethylene (M₁)–vinyl acetate (M₂) copolymerization at 62°C and 35 kg/cm² with α,α′-azo-bisisobutyronitrile as initiator has been studied in four different solvents, viz., tert-butyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, benzene, and N,N-dimethylformamide. The experimental method used was based on frequent measurement of the composition of the reaction mixture throughout the copolymerization reaction by means of quantitative gas chromatographic analysis. Highly accurate monomer reactivity ratios have been calculated by means of the curve-fitting I procedure. The observed dependence of the r values on the nature of the solvent is surprisingly large and can be correlated with the volume changes (= excess volumes) observed on mixing vinyl acetate (VAc) with the relevant solvent. An increased hydrogen bonding or dipole–dipole interaction through the carbonyl moiety of the acetate side group of VAc, induces a decreased electron density on the vinyl group of VAc, which in turn leads to a decreased VAc reactivity. The differences among the overall rates of copolymerization in the various solvents can be interpreted in terms of a variable chain transfer to solvent and the rate of the subsequent reinitiation by the solvent radical. In the case of benzene, complex formation is believed to play an important part.