Dependence of the kinetics of the anionic polymerization of methyl methacrylate on the concentration in active centers

Studies on the anionic polymerization of methyl methacrylate in tetrahydrofuran and in the presence of sparteine have revealed a beneficial effect due to this additive, resulting in a decrease in the extent of termination. Better control of the definition of the polymers formed can thus be achieved in the presence of this additive. On the other hand, macromolecular engineering requires a range of active species concentrations lower than 10^?3 mol L^?1 and particularly the synthesis of polymers of high molar masses. For a better understanding of the mechanism of chain growth under such concentration conditions, the kinetics of polymerization have been investigated with a technique based on adiabatic calorimetry. Sparteine has been found to lack sufficient cation‐binding power to prevent the propagating enolate ion pairs from aggregating. The rate constant of propagation of nonaggregated species has been estimated, as well as the aggregation constant of equilibrium. For very low initiator concentrations, termination reactions have been shown to profoundly alter the control of the polymerization and to prevent a quantitative monomer conversion. Theoretical maximal conversions have been calculated from kinetic data and compare well with the experimental values. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 4964–4975, 2004     

Comparative behavior of polybutadiene and polynorbornene‐based latices prepared by dispersion ring‐opening metathesis polymerization with a poly(ethylene oxide) macromonomer

This study critically examines the similarities and differences between poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) stabilized latices of polynorbornene and polybutadiene. Features such as the kinetics of copolymerization of norbornene and cyclooctadiene with a macromonomer of PEO, the particles' size and morphology, the type of copolymer formed, and the stability of these latices were investigated and the results obtained are considered. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 2705–2716, 2004     

Half-Projected and Projected Hartree-Fock Calculations for Singlet Ground States. i. four-Electron Atomic Systems

The half-projected Hartree-Fock function (HPHF ) for singlet states is defined as a linear combination of two Slater determinants, which contains only spin eigenfunctions with even quantum number. Using a self-consistent procedure based on the generalized Brillouin's theorem, the RHF , HPHF and PHF functions are deduced for the ground states of the Li^?, Be, B⁺, and C²⁺ systems, in a limited basis set. It is found that the HPHF function yields better energy values than the RHF function, very close to that of the PHF one. The HPHF scheme seems thus to be useful as a substitute for the PHF model, specially in the case of large electronic systems in which the latter method becomes unmanageable.     

PFGSE-NMR study of the self-diffusion of sucrose fatty acid monoesters in water

The micellization of pure monosubstituted sucrose fatty acid esters in water, namely sucrose octanoate, sucrose decanoate, sucrose laurate, sucrose dodec-5-cis-enoate, sucrose myristate, and sucrose palmitate, has been investigated by means of two NMR methods, pulsed field gradient spin-echo NMR (PFGSE-NMR), giving access to the self-diffusion coefficients of free molecules and micelles in solution, and the ERETIC method (electronic reference to access in vivo concentrations) for the measurement of concentrations by external calibration of a synthetic NMR signal. The early micellar regions and, when possible, the premicellar regions were investigated. By this method, we obtained the hydrodynamic radii of micelles, displaying a linear progression in relation to the chain length and an accurate determination of critical micellar concentration (CMC) for each sucrose ester. The effect of the regiochemistry of fatty chain grafting has been investigated, showing special behavior for 1'-O-sucrose palmitate.     

Recherches sur la structure électronique de composés soufrés (méthode L.C.A.O. améliorée)

Improved L.C.A.O. method primitively built for conjugated molecules holding only atoms of second row in the periodic classification is extended to molecules holding atoms of the third row. The application is done for thiophen, thioketones, SO₂ and SO₃. d orbitals are not introduced in this study. Discussion about results shows that d orbitals must be introduced when the sulphur atom is strongly positively charged like in sulphur oxides.     

Microanalysis of Si,S and Zn in GaSb by use of direct observation of (p,p′γ) reactions

The use of direct observation of nuclear reactions (p,p′γ) is discussed. The main characteristics of this method are presented and applied to the case of the miroanalysis of Si, S and Zn in GaSb.     

Mild cleavage of methoxymethyl (MOM) ethers with trimethylsilyl bromide

Trimethylsilyl bromide is an effective reagent for the deprotection of methoxymethyl ethers under mild conditions.     

Formation et réactivité de carbanions α phosphoramides. Mise en évidence d'une nouvelle réaction d'élimination

The reactivity of (diethoxy)-N-methyl-N-benzyl phosphoramide (I) and bis(dinethylamino)-N-methyl-N-benzylphosphoramide (II) when treated with strong bases (RLi, R₂NLi) is very different: (I) gives a novel elimination, whereas (II) under the same experimental conditions gives a stable carbanion whose reactivity has been investigated.     

An improved method for the determination of the input applied to a linear system by deconvolution of the output. Application in thermokinetics

A simplified deconvolution procedure which can be used to remove the distortion, due to thermal lags, from calorimetric data is described and tested. The procedure is based on the state function theory. Noise in the deconvoluted data can be abated by smoothing the experimental data and by a careful choice of the data-sampling frequency. The method is adaptable to on-line processing by means of a microprocessor.

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Zusammenfassung Ein vereinfachtes Dekonvolutionsverfahren, das sich zur Behebung von infolge thermischer Lag-Erscheinungen auftretenden Zerrungen kalorimetrischer Daten eignet, wird beschrieben und getestet. Das Verfahren beruht auf der Theorie der Zustandsfunktion. Geräusche der Dekonvolutionsdaten können durch Ausgleichen der Versuchsdaten und durch sorgfältige Wahl der Datennahme-Frequenz gedämpft werden. Die Methode kann mittels eines Mikro-Verarbeiters zur on-line Verarbeitung eingesetzt werden.

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Résumé Une procédure simplifiée de déconvolution qui peut être utilisée pour éliminer des courbes calorimétriques, la distorsion causée par l'inertie thermique du calorimètre, est décrite et testée. La procédure est basée sur la théorie des variables d'état. Le bruit de fond des courbes corrigées peut être diminué par le lissage des données expérimentales et par le choix d'une fréquence d'échantillonnage appropriée. La méthode peut être adaptée au traitement en ligne des données au moyen d'un microprocesseur.

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The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Dr. J. Van Bokhoven, Chemisch Laboratorium TNO, Rijswyk, the Netherlands, during the experimental part of this work.