Anionic Polymerization of α-Methylstyrene. IX. Nature of the Propagating Species

Abstract

The nature of the initiating and propagating species involved in the anionic polymerization of α-methylstyrene has been explored. The earlier hypothesis that multimodal GPC molecular weight distributions in polymers arise solely out of different reaction steps or different ion-pair mechanisms being involved has been modified for poly-α-methylstyrene. Multimodal GPC molecular weight distributions in poly-α-methylstyrene initiated with potassium at 25°C and polymerized at 25°C or higher in THF, p-dioxane, or cyclohexane as solvents have been ascribed to the presence of two different types of tetramers which grow simultaneously but at different rates, each responding to its own well-defined thermodynamic equilibrium and yielding dormant and living polymers. Reaction schemes describing the initiation (at 25°C) and propagation reactions (between -25 and 60°C) in the polymerization (in solution of THF as well as in bulk) of α-methylstyrene initiated with potassium-naphthalene, butyl-lithium, and butyllithium-tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA) have been presented. The role of coordinating agents naphthalene and TMEDA in changing irreversible propagations into reversible ones has been emphasized.     

Polymerization of α-Methylstyrene in Cyclohexane with Potassium as Initiator. IV. Thermodynamic Study and Gel-Permeation Chromatographic Analyses of the Polymers

Polymerization of α-methylstyrene in cyclohexane containing traces of tetrahydrofuran (THF) has been carried out at 40°C with potassium as initiator. The conversion of monomer to polymer was very slow, and a solution with [M]₀ of 5.15 mole/ liter, carrying 0.110 mole/liter of the living ends [LE], required two months to reach a stationary state. The gel-permeation chromatographic (GPC) analyses of these polymers showed them to have multimodal distributions which could be split into components D+A, B, and C similar to those found for poly-α-methylstyrene prepared in THF and α-dioxane as solvents. Furthermore, under identical conditions of [M]₀ and [LE], the GPC distributions of poly-α-methylstyrene prepared in cyclohexane, p-dioxane, and THF were the same, in spite of their different dielectric constants. Under identical conditions of [M]₀ but with different [LE], the effect of excessive [LE] on the GPC distributions of the polymers prepared in cyclohexane was not limited to the component D+A as was the case when THF or p-dioxane were the solvents, but also on the component C which increased its contribution [P]_e to the polymer.     

Ultrasonic Modification of Polymers. I. Degradations of Polystyrene in the Presence of Various Poly(alkyl Methacrylates)

Ultrasonic (70 W, 20 kHz) degradations of polystyrene (PS) have been carried out with various poly(alkyl methacrylates) (PRMA) for periods of 3 h at 27°C in toluene (2.0 to 5.0% solutions). The isolation of sequence copolymers thus prepared from their associated homopolymers was achieved by employing selective solvents (solvent for one homopolymer but a precipitant for the second homopolymer in the mixture). The recovered products were analyzed by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and viscometry. These analyses showed that when the substituents in PRMA were methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, or phenyl, sequence copolymers with segments from PS as well as from poly(alkyl methacrylate) were obtained. However, when the substituents on PRMA were hexyl, isodecyl, lauryl, hexadecyl, octadecyl or isobornyl there were no sequence copolymers formed. The decrease in the intrinsic viscosity of the recovered homopolymers and shifts of their GPC chromatograms toward the low molecular weight end suggest that on sonification PRMA samples having bulkier substituents do degrade and yield radicals which, however, do not recombine with those from polystyrene. Furthermore, ultrasonic degradation of polystyrene is found to be dependent on the chain stiffness of the poly(alkyl methacrylates).     

Dinuclear zinc-catalyzed asymmetric desymmetrization of acyclic 2-substituted-1,3-propanediols: a powerful entry into chiral building blocks

The asymmetric acylation of meso-2-substituted-1,3-propanediols by using an amphoteric chiral dinuclear zinc catalyst is described. It is has been demonstrated that both 2-alkyl- and 2-aryl-1,3-propanediols can be desymmetrized in high yields and enantioselectivities by using the same family of ligands. Given that both antipodes of the chiral catalyst are available, both enantiomers of the desymmetrized product can be obtained from the same starting material. The synthetic utility of the desymmetrized products has been demonstrated by the synthesis of several chiral building blocks with high enantiomeric purities.     

Performance evaluation of 16 channel DWDM radio-over-fiber link

In this article, generation of DWDM-RoF signal utilizing an SOA-MZI multichannel frequency up-conversion is demonstrated. The simulation results of a 16 channel, 10 km DWDM-RoF link at baseband signal of 500 Mbps, over the wavelength range 1545.80–1552.20 nm are reported. BER of the order of e⁻¹⁸ and Q factor above 18 dB over the entire bandwidth signify negligible crosstalk and error free transmission of radio signal.     

Compensating spectral loss variations in EDFA amplifiers for different modulation formats

In this paper, we investigate the performance of the optical system consisting of chain of EDFA amplifiers for different data formats such as non-return-to-zero (NRZ), return to zero (RZ) and Manchester. Their effect on the spectral loss variations produced in fiber output is analyzed. We show that when the RZ raised cosine and Manchester raised cosine modulation formats are used, the non-linear ties are produced in power spectrum plots which severely distort the signals obtained at the output of the chain of the EDFA amplifiers. On the other hand, the NRZ raised cosine modulation format best compensates the spectral loss variations in the power spectrum plots obtained at the output. We further show that NRZ raised cosine has good eye opening as compared to other modulation formats.     

Structure of 72,74Se at high spin

Lifetimes of high spin states up to { }=22⁺ in the yrast positive parity bands have been measured to investigate the shape evolution with increasing spin in ^{72, 74}Se. The Q _t values derived from these measurements indicate that prolate shape stabilizes for ⁷²Se, while a triaxial shape develops for ⁷⁴Se at higher spins. Comparison of the observed trend in Q _t with spin for ^{72, 74}Se with that of the corresponding kryptones isotones emphasizes the stability provided by N=38 prolate shell gap even at high rotational frequency.     

Green synthesis of nanocomposites consisting of silver and protease alpha chymotrypsin

The synergy of ultrasonication and the exposure to light radiation was found to be necessary in the formation of nanocomposites of silver and a protease alpha chymotrypsin. The reaction was carried out in aqueous medium and the process took just less than 35 min. Ultrasonication alone formed very negligible number of nanoparticles of <100 nm size whereas light alone produced enough number but the size of the particles was >100 nm.The effects of pH (in the range of 3–5, 9–10), ultrasonication time periods (0–30 min), ultrasonication intensity (33–83 W cm^?2), energy of light radiation (short UV, long UV and Fluorescent light) and time period of exposure (5–60 min) to different light radiations were studied.The formation of nanocomposites under these effects was followed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectra, dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Ag–chymotrypsin nanocomposites of sizes ranging from 13 to 72 nm were formed using the synergy of ultrasonication and exposure to short UV radiation. Results show that ultrasonication promoted nuclei formation, growth and reduction of polydispersity by Ostwald ripening.