ACOMP platform

Based on continuous extraction and dilution of reactor content to produce a dilute stream through the detectors, the versatile ACOMP platform combines light scattering, spectroscopy, viscometry, and other methods to monitor, during polymeric materials synthesis, various features such as reaction kinetics, monomer conversion, composition drift, linear charge density, molar mass, intrinsic viscosity, and other characteristics. The examples discussed next illustrate a number of reaction contexts where fundamental measurements are used to gain a comprehensive picture of reaction characteristics. 

A method of finding M (f)—discussed also in Chapter 11—Abased on the measured values of absolute scattering I q, c) and the concentration values determined at any point using ACOMP platform was presented in Reference [17]. The evolution of the copolymer M was computed as follows ... 

The primary data furnished by such detection then allows interpretation of kinetics and mechanisms and can serve as the basis for building specific quantitative, mechanistic models, as well as for controlling polymerization reactions. The ACOMP platform is one means of anbodying and employing any chosen set of such detectors, and these can also be complemented by widely used in situ detectors. 

On-command polymer properties Product quality and product yield are much more complex issues in polymerization than in more conventional small molecule reactions. The key polymer properties are dependent on the polymer particle size distribution (PSD) and molecular weight distribution (MWD). These properties are sensitive to the process and kinetic history. The ACOMP platform, by directly monitoring these properties, will enable the production of polymers with desired properties on-command. ... 

Beyond direct near-term potential benefits of industrial ACOMP, widespread use of the ACOMP platform in the R D laboratory and on industrial reactors will assist in the accelerated development of next generation smart polymers, which can be stimuli-responsive (UVMs light, pressure, sound, stress, etc.) and can tum-on physical characteristics at var-... 

The background and principles of ACOMP have been discussed in this chapter, with a special focus on how important polymerization reaction characteristics are obtained from the rich data stream furnished by the ACOMP detector stream. Chapters 12 and 13 give examples of the very wide range of specific applications ACOMP has already been adapted to. Chapter 15 gives perspective on the outlook of transforming ACOMP from laboratory R D instrumentation to a robust platform for monitoring and controlling industrial scale reactions. 

Comprehensive characterization of the controlled radical (co)polymerization of styrene and BA monomers using the ACOMP multidetector platform was recently reported [65,66]. 

Novel approaches in the online monitoring of the synthesis of the amphiphilic copolymers by Automatic continuous online monitoring of polymerization were recently reported by Alb et al. [23]. The ACOMP monitoring platform was used to follow in real time the synthesis of 2-(dimelhylamino)ethyl acrylate (DMAEA)/styrene (sty) copolymers by RAFT. 

The first use of ACOMP to follow in real-time ATRP reaction kinetics was recently reported [91]. The ACOMP multidetector platform allowed simultaneous monitoring of conversion, weight-average molar mass, M, and intrinsic viscosity, from which viscometric-average molar mass and MJM were computed, in the case of ATRP reactions of BA, initiated by methyl 2-bromopropionate (M2BP) and catalyzed by copper bromide. 

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