Anionic graft polymerization of methyl methacrylate on starch and dextrin

The anionic graft polymerization of methyl methacrylate on the potassium alkoxide derivative of starch or dextrin in DMSO was studied. The effects of monomer and alkoxide concentrations as well as temperature were investigated. The yield of graft polymer increased with increasing alkoxide concentration. With increasing monomer concentration and with increasing temperature the extent of homopolymer formation increased. The composition of the graft polymers was found to depend on the reaction conditions. Graft polymers having about 10–40% poly(methyl methacrylate) were obtained. There were quantitative differences in yield of isolated graft polymer between starch and dextrin and these were ascribed to differences in the solubility properties of the carbohydrates. Evidence on the structure of the graft polymers and on the mechanism of the graft polymerization was obtained from acid hydrolysis of the graft polymers and determination of the molecular weights of the cleaved side chains.     

Cyclopolymerization of diallylcyanamide

A soluble polymer of cyclic structure has been obtained by radical polymerization of diallyleyanamide. A kinetic analysis of the polymerization indicated that the overall rate of the system is first-order with respect to concentration of initiator and either first- or second-order with respect to monomer concentration, depending on the solvent used. The molecular weight of the polymer is independent of the concentration of the initiator and the monomer. The intramolecular abstraction of hydrogen is proposed as a termination reaction.     

Emulsion polymerization of vinyl acetate. II

The emulsion polymerization of vinyl acetate was investigated at low ionic strengths and has quite unusual kinetics. The rate of polymerization is dependent on the initiator concentration to the first power and independent of soap concentration. In seeded polymerizations, the rate of polymerization depends on initiator to the 0.8 power, particle concentration to the 0.2 power, and monomer volume to 0.35 power. In all cases the rate of polymerization is almost independent of monomer concentration in the particles until 85–90% conversion. These results were rationalized by the following mechanism: (a) polymerization initiates in the aqueous phase because of the solubility of the monomer and is stabilized there by adsorption of ionic soap on the growing polymer molecule; (b) the growing polymer is swept up by a particle at a degree of polymerization (under our conditions) of about 50–200. Growth continues in the particle. This sweep-up is activation-controlled as both particle and polymer are charged. (c) Chain transfer to the acetyl group of monomer gives a new small radical which cyclizes to the water-soluble butyrolactonyl radical, and reinitiates polymerization in the aqueous phase; (d) the main termination step is reaction of an uncharged butyrolactonyl radical with a growing aqueous polymer radical. A secondary reaction at low ionic strength is sweep-up of an aqueous radical by a particle containing a radical. At high ionic strength, this is the major termination step. The unusual kinetic steps are justified by data from the literature. They are combined with the usual mechanisms operating for vinyl acetate polymerization and kinetic equations are derived and integrated. The integral equations were compared with the experimental data and shown to match it almost completely over the whole range of experimental variables.     

Kinetic study of the alternating copolymerization of butadiene and methyl methacrylate

A kinetic investigation of the alternating copolymerization of butadiene and methyl methacrylate with the use of a system of ethylaluminum dichloride and vanadyl chloride as a catalyst was undertaken. The relation between the polymer yield and the molar fraction of methyl methacrylate in the feed was examined by continuous variation of butadiene and methyl methacrylate, the concentrations of total monomer, ethylaluminum dichloride, and vanadyl chloride being kept constant. This continuous variation method revealed that the polymer yield attains its maximum value with a monomer feed containing less than the 0.5 molar fraction of methyl methacrylate. This value of the molar fraction of methyl methacrylate affording the maximum polymer yield decreased on increasing the total monomer concentration but was not changed on varying the concentration of ethylaluminum dichloride. The number of active species estimated from the relation between yield and molecular weight of the polymer was almost constant, regardless of the molar fraction of methyl methacrylate in the feed. Consequently, it can be said that the maximum polymer yield depends mainly on the propagation reaction, not on the initiation reaction or the termination reaction. Three types of the mechanism have been discussed for this alternating copolymerization: polymerization via alternating addition of butadiene and methyl methacrylate complexed with ethylaluminum dichloride by the Lewis-Mayo scheme; polymerization via the ternary intermediate of butadiene, methyl methacrylate, and ethylaluminum dichloride; polymerization via the complex formation of butadiene and methyl methacrylate complexed with ethylaluminum dichloride occurring only at the growing polymer radical. From the kinetic results obtained, it was shown that the first and third schemes are excluded, and polymerization by way of the ternary intermediate is compatible with the data.     

Anionic graft polymerization and homopolymerization of phenyl glycidyl ether

Phenyl glycidyl ether was found to react with potassium starch alkoxide in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to give graft polymers in almost quantitative yields, both the monomer and the starch being incorporated completely into the graft polymer. No transfer reactions to monomer or solvent leading to homopolymerization was found. For this reason this system was used as a model for the study of the rate of the graft polymerization of alkylene oxides on starch and other carbohydrates. Comparison of the rates of the graft polymerization of phenyl glycidyl ether on starch alkoxide with that of the homopolymerization by potassium naphthalene in DMSO under comparable conditions showed that the former reaction was much slower. Rates of the graft polymerizations on dextrin and sucrose under comparable conditions, were similar to those obtained with starch. On the other hand, the rates of polymerization on poly(ethylene oxide) alkoxides of different molecular weights were similar to those obtained in the corresponding homopolymerization by potassium naphthalene, showing that neither the molecular weight of the initiator nor the viscosity of the reaction medium were the governing factors. This suggested that the lower rates obtained by using the carbohydrate alkoxides as initiators were connected with the heterogeneity of these reaction systems, the polymeric alkoxide being insoluble in DMSO. The systematic study carried out on the homopolymerization by potassium naphthalene in DMSO showed that the effective initiator was dimsyl anion obtained by interaction of potassium naphthalene with DMSO. The reaction was bimolecular, being first order to monomer and to initiator. The molecular weights increased with increasing monomer concentration and decreasing catalyst concentration, in accordance with a “living” polymerization system.     

双官能度引发剂引发苯乙烯聚合微观动力学

采用 2 ,5 二甲基 2 ,5 二己酰基过氧化己烷 (DMDEHPH)为引发剂 ,在 5 5～ 80℃下引发苯乙烯聚合 .通过研究影响聚合速率的各种因素 ,得出了聚合速率对单体浓度和引发剂浓度的级数分别为 1 0和 0 5次、聚合活化能为 92 0kJ mol、引发效率为 0 5 5± 0 0 3.温度一定 ,引发效率随引发剂浓度的增加而减小 .求得 6 0和70℃下DMDEHPH向引发剂的链转移常数分别为 0 0 37和 0 0 4 8、向单体的链转移常数分别为 0 5 9× 10 - 4和0 75× 10 - 4.     

Free-radical polymerization of phenylacetylene

The free-radical polymerization of phenylacetylene initiated by azobisisobutyronitrile at 50°C was studied in bulk and in the presence of benzene and toluene. The polymerization rate is approximately first-order with respect to the initiator concentration. The number-average molecular weight of the polymer is independent of the initiator concentration in bulk and is approximately proportional to the monomer concentration in the presence of the two diluents, but independent of their nature. The data are consistent with a mechanism based on first-order decay of active to inactive radicals. This step appears to exert the major control over kinetic and molecular chain lengths. Chain transfer to the monomer is concluded to be absent or to make only a small contribution to molecular termination.     

Activation Mechanisms of Trialkylaluminum in Alkali Metal Alkoxides or Tetraalkylammonium Salts / Propylene Oxide Controlled Anionic Polymerization

The anionic polymerization of propylene oxide (PO) initiated by alkali metal alkoxides is in non polar solvents a very slow and non controlled reaction process. Transfer reaction to monomer is predominant, allowing only the preparation of low molar masses PPO. The influence of the addition of trialkylaluminium to either an alkali metal alkoxide or a tetraalkylammonium salt used as initiator for PO polymerization in hydrocarbon media was investigated. A strong enhancement of the polymerization rate accompanied by a drastic decrease of the transfer reactions is observed, allowing the synthesis of PPO with well controlled molar masses. At constant monomer and alkali metal alkoxide concentrations, the polymerization rate increases with increasing trialkylaluminium concentration. Results indicate that the trialkylaluminium derivative is involved in the formation of two distinct complexes, one with the alkali metal alkoxide or the tetraalkylammonium salt and another one with the PO monomer which is strongly activated towards nucleophilic active species. Significant differences between the alkali metal and tetraalkylammonium based initiators are observed. In particular much less trialkylaluminum activator is needed with the ammonium salt to get the same rate of propagation and controlled polymerization.     

Photopolymerization of methyl methaerylate initiated by benzil in non-aqueous media

Summary Kinetics of polymerization of methyl methacrylate initiated by photolysis of benzil with 420 nm radiation, have been investigated at 35 °C. The rate of monomer disappearance has been followed gravimetrically and the chain-length of the polymer formed, measured by viscometry. The dependence of the rate of polymerization and quantum yield of monomer conversion on the concentrations of the monomer and the initiator, absorbed light-intensity etc. has been studied in detail. A kinetic scheme has been proposed in the light of experimental results, involving i) a primary photochemical act of excitation of the sensitizer producing free radicals by hydrogen abstraction, ii) initiation of polymerization by free radicals generated and iii) termination of the active chain by mutual combination involving either coupling or disproportionation.With 3 figures and 2 tables     

氯丁胶乳乳液接枝甲基丙烯酸甲酯的反应动力学

采用乳液聚合法将甲基丙烯酸甲酯(MMA)接枝到氯丁胶乳上,红外光谱和核磁共振氢谱证实了接枝产物的生成。 研究了反应温度、乳化剂浓度、引发剂浓度和单体浓度对表观聚合速率的影响。 结果表明,当反应温度为50 ℃,引发剂叔丁基过氧化氢 四乙烯五胺（t-BHP/TEPA）用量为氯丁胶乳干重的0.5%,单体/聚合物质量比m(M)∶m(P)=3∶5,乳化剂十二烷基连苯醚二磺酸钠（DSB）用量为单体总质量1%时,单体转化率和接枝效率分别为99.1%和54.9%。 聚合反应动力学关系式为：Rp=Kc(E)0.15c(I)0.30c(MMA)1.41,式中,K为常数,在40~55 ℃范围内,聚合反应的表观活化能Ea＝60.2 kJ/mol。 接枝聚合基本符合自由基反应机理。     

Study on controlling particle growth in seeded emulsion polymerization with regulated coagulation based on the electrostatic interactions

30wt% solid content, anionic seed copolymer latex P(methyl acrylate-co-methyl methacrylate) was prepared by conventional emulsion polymerization, and then the seeded emulsion polymerization was carried out accompanied with the electrostatic coagulation during the reaction in the presence of counter-ion species, such as cationic monomer and initiator. In this article, effects of cationic monomer (dimethyl aminoethyl methacrylate, DM) content, secondary monomer to seed polymer weight ratio, M/P and amount of emulsifier (polyoxyethylene nonylphenylether with 23 units of ethylene oxide, PEO23) were investigated on the effective particle growth and the stability of final latex. With 10wt% DM in monomer, M/P ratio at 2.0 were recommended. An optimal policy for handling the emulsifier content without the nucleation of secondary particles while achieving the controlled coagulative growth was proposed from the observations of polymer yield and particle size during the polymerization.     

Polymerization of diethylene glycol bis(allyl carbonate) by means of di-sec-butyl peroxydicarbonate

The initial stages of the free radical polymerization of diethylene glycol bis(allyl carbonate) at temperatures of 35–65°C have been studied. The polymer is unsaturated and cyclization to give a 16-membered ring occurs only to a small extent. The kinetic order with respect to the initiator, di-sec-butyl peroxydicarbonate, has an average value of 0.79; the order increases slightly with peroxydicarbonate concentration over the range 0.018–0.22M. The molecular weight of the polymer isolated after 3% polymerization is close to 19,000. It shows no significant dependence on initiator concentration or on temperature. The dominant feature of the bulk polymerization, as in free radical polymerization of the other allyl and diallyl monomers, is degradative chain transfer in which the growing polymer radical abstracts a hydrogen atom from a monomer unit to give a relatively unreactive allylic radical. The dependence of rate on initiator concentration is rationalized if some of these allylic radicals are able to reinitiate polymerization. The transfer constant to monomer is 0.014 at 50°C, assuming that the main termination step involves mutual termination of allylic radicals. Carbon tetrachloride is an active transfer agent with a transfer constant of 0.20 ± 0.04 at 50°C. Toluene, which is less active, has a transfer constant of 0.0064 at 50°C and also retards the polymerization. Some kinetic studies have been made with other initiators, including di-2-methyl-pentanoyl peroxide which initiates polymerization at temperatures as low as 13°C.     

Photopolymerization of methyl methacrylate with the use of iodine monobromide as photoinitiator

Iodine monobromide easily induces photopolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) at 40°C under visible light. Initiator exponent and monomer exponent values were found to be 0.5 and 2, respectively, at low initiator concentrations, while the corresponding values at high initiator concentration conditions were zero and 3. The chain transfer constant of IBr at 40°C was found to be 13.0. Kinetic and other data indicate a radical polymerization mechanism involving complexation of monomer molecules with iodine monobromide prior to radical generation, and termination is believed to take place biomolecularly at low IBr concentrations and unimolecularly, involving reaction with the initiator, at high IBr concentrations (initiator termination).     

Spontaneous polymerization of acrylamide in glycerol

The spontaneous polymerization of acrylamide in glycerol in the range of 250–350°C has been first observed and investigated. It has been shown that the polymerization proceeds during dissolution of acrylamide in glycerol and leads to formation of gel globules in which the growth of polymer chains takes place. The reaction occurs without termination of kinetic chains in the living polymerization mode. The effective chain transfer at a low concentration of active centers ensures a high yield of the polymer.     

Radical polymerization of vinyl acetate with primary radical termination

Vinyl acetate was polymerized at high initiation rate with 2,2′-azobis(2,4-dimethyl valeronitrile) as initiator at 50°C. In this polymerization, the power dependence of polymerization rate on the initiation rate is smaller than at lower concentration of monomer. This dependence was kinetically analyzed at each given concentration of monomer. Average degree of polymerization of polymer formed depends on the concentration of initiator. This dependence was explained by considering chain and primary radical terminations and transfer to monomer of polymer radical, and the initiator efficiency (=0.503) was deduced. It was found that the chain termination is inversely proportional to solvent viscosity, but the primary radical termination is not inversely proportional to solvent viscosity. Further, the value of the primary radical termination rate constant (=1.4 × 10⁹l./mole-sec) was estimated.     

Effect of primary radical termination on chain length and initiator efficiency

In polymerization with primary radical termination, when reaction between primary radicals, which escape from solvent cage, is not negligible, a relation between chain length and polymerization rate is found regardless of tractable approximate procedures. Such a relation is applied to the kinetic data obtained in the polymerizations of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and vinyl acetate (VA) initiated by 2,2′-azobis(2,4-valeronitrile) at 50.0°C. Further, when the primary radical termination is high, an initiator efficiency can not be approximated to a ratio of the primary radicals escaping from the cage to the total primary radicals formed in the cage. In the polymerization of MMA, after the primary radicals escapes from the cage, they immediately react with the monomer. Thus, the reaction between the primary radicals is not significant. However, in the polymerization of VA, the rate of reaction between the primary radical and the monomer might be comparable to the rate of reaction between the primary radicals when the initiator concentration is quite high.     

Vinyl Polymerization Initiated by Peroxydiphosphate. XI. Polymerization of Methyl Methacrylate Initiated by Peroxydiphosphate-Tartaric Acid Redox System

The polymerization of methyl methacrylate was studied using the peroxydiphosphate and tartaric acid redox system as the initiator. The rate of polymerization increases with increasing peroxydiphosphate concentration and the initiator exponent was computed to be 0.5. The rate of polymerization increases with increasing monomer concentration and the monomer exponent was computed to be unity. The reaction was carried out at three different temperatures, and the overall activation energy was computed to be 3.80 kcal/mol. The effect of certain surfactants on the rate of polymerization has been investigated and a suitable kinetic scheme has been proposed.     

Controlled ring‐opening polymerization of propylene oxide catalyzed by double metal‐cyanide complex

A double metal‐cyanide catalyst based on Zn₃[Co(CN)₆]₂ was prepared. This catalyst is very effective for the ring‐opening polymerization of propylene oxide. Polyether polyols of moderate molecular weight having low unsaturation (<0.015 meq/g) can be prepared under mild conditions. The molecular weight of polymer is entirely controlled by a reacted monomer‐to‐initiator ratio. The polymers prepared with stepwise addition of monomer exhibit a narrower molecular weight distribution as compared with those prepared with one‐step addition of monomer. Various compounds containing active hydrogen, except basic compounds and low‐carbon carboxylic acid, may be used as initiators. The reaction rate increases with increasing catalyst amount and decreases with rising initiator concentration. Polymerization involves a rapid exchange reaction between the active species and the dormant species. It was also proven that, to a certain extent, the chain termination of this catalytic system is reversible or temporary. ¹³C NMR analysis showed that the polymer has a random distribution of the configurational sequences and head‐to‐tail regiosequence. It is assumed that the polymerization proceeds via a cationic coordination mechanism. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 1142–1150, 2002     

Chemical recycling of poly(methyl methacrylate) by pyrolysis. Potential use of the liquid fraction as a raw material for the reproduction of the polymer

Pyrolysis of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was studied as an effective way to recycle this polymer and recover its monomer methyl methacrylate (MMA). Experiments were carried out in a laboratory fixed bed reactor using either a model polymer or a commercial product based on PMMA as feedstock. Gaseous and liquid products obtained from polymer degradation were analysed and it was found that the oil fraction constituted mainly of the MMA monomer. Thus, the possibility of directly using the liquid product for the reproduction of the polymer was further investigated. Polymerizations accomplished in a differential scanning calorimeter using azo-bis-isobutyronitrile as initiator and different reaction temperatures. Results obtained were compared to corresponding data from polymerization of neat monomer. It was found that the pyrolysis liquid fraction can be polymerized and produce a polymer similar to the original PMMA. However, even small amounts of other organic compounds (mainly methyl esters) included in this fraction act as non-ideal reaction retarders, altering the reaction rate curve and lowering the glass transition temperature and the average molecular weight of the polymer produced.     

Mechanistic studies on ceric-thiourea-initiated polymerization of methyl methacrylate in acid-aqueous media from end group analysis

The mechanism of the redox polymerization of methyl methacrylate in acid-aqueous medium was studied for ceric-thiourea initiator system by analysis of polymer end groups using the dye partition method. Polymerization at room temperature and at pH 2.30 with this initiator system incorporates mostly amino end groups in the polymers to the extent of 1.18-1.31 and a small amount of hydroxyl end group not exceeding 0.08 per polymer molecule. Under the same pH condition, a higher polymerization temperature increases the amine end group content to 2.17-2.30 and hydroxyl end group content to 0.14-0.18 per polymer molecule. A lower polymerization temperature (5°C), or a lower pH (ca. 1) of the reaction medium, produces polymers with exclusively amine end groups, hydroxyl end groups being totally absent. At pHs greater than 3, amine end group incorporation decreases significantly, with simultaneous increase in hydroxyl incorporation. On the basis of end group results the initiating radical has been identified and the mechanism of initiation has been suggested. The possible mode of termination has also been discussed.