Activation energies cationic polymerizations

Living radical polymerization Redox initiation Activation energy Cationic polymerization Living cationic polymerizations Gegen ion... 

The primary cation CH20H is created in the cage reaction under photolysis of an impurity or y-radiolysis. The rate constant of a one link growth, found from the kinetic post-polymerization curves, is constant in the interval 4.2-12 K where = 1.6 x 10 s . Above 20K the apparent activation energy goes up to 2.3 kcal/mol at 140K, where k 10 s L... 

In general, the activation energies for both cationic and anionic polymerization are small. For this reason, low-temperature conditions are normally used to reduce side reactions. Low temperatures also minimize chain transfer reactions. These reactions produce low-molecular weight polymers by disproportionation of the propagating polymer ... 

Stoicescu and Dimonie103 studied the polymerization of 2-vinylfuran with iodine in methylene chloride between 20 and 50 °C. The time-conversion curves were not analysed for internal orders but external orders with respect to catalyst and monomer were both unity. Together with an overall activation energy of 2.5 kcal/mole for the polymerization process, these were the only data obtained. Observations about the low DP s of the products, their dark colour, their lack of bound iodine and the presence of furan rings in the oligomers, inferred by infrared spectra (not reported), completed the experimental evidence. The authors proposed a linear, vinylic structure for the polymer, and a true cationic mechanism for its formation and discussed the occurrence of an initial charge-transfer complex on the... 

The rates of all single-step reactions increase as the temperature increases. This may not be true for multistep reactions such as those involved with multistep polymerizations, here the cationic polymerization. For cationic polymerizations the activation energies are generally of the order > E > E. Remembering that the description of the specific rate constant is... 

M) the polymerization proceeds entirely by cationic propagation as evidenced by a unimodal MWD, which is characteristic of the cationic MWD. The extent of the ionic contribution relative to radical polymerization also increases with increasing radiation intensity, perhaps due to the rapid depletion of water at the higher intensities. Other evidence for the ionic contributions include kinetic and activation energy data. 

TABLE 5-9 Activation Energy for Rate of Cationic Polymerization of Styrene... 

With Na+, as a cation, the activation energies for the anionic polymerization of acrolein and propylene sulfide (11) are approximately the same. On the other hand, with Li+, it is impossible to compare the acrolein activation energy with the same monomer or another polar monomer because no result is found in the literature. Moreover, for the acrolein polymerization, (Raj u+) lower than ( > +). 

Solvent polarity and temperature also influence ihe results. The dielectric constant and polarizability, however, are of little predictive value for the selection of solvents relative to polymerization rates and behavior. Evidently evety system has to he examined independently. In cationic polymerization of vinyl monomers, chain transfer is the most significant chain-breaking process. The activation energy of chain transfer is higher than that of propagation consequently, the molecular weight of the polymer increases with decreasing temperature. 

Various modes of termination of anionic polymerization can be visualized. The growing chain end could split out a hydride ion to leave a residual double bond. This is, however, a high activation energy process and has not as yet been reported in the cases where alkali metal cations are present. It is important in systems involving Al—C bonds, however (73). A second possibility is termination through isomerization of the carbanion to an inactive anion. Proton transfer from solvent, polymer, or monomer would also cause termination of the growing chain. Lastly, the carbanion could undergo an irreversible reaction with solvent or monomer. The latter three types have been shown or postulated as termination or transfer reactions. 

The existence of all cationic forms A+ to E+ was proved by NMR spectroscopy. Their relative abundances change with the polymerization temperature. The proton or methylium cation transfer has a low activation energy which, together with the energy state of the respective cation, determines the structure of the generated polymer. 

Overall polymerization rates which are equated with the rate of propagation were first order in monomer and very fast. At -78 °C the rate constants fell between 1.0 and 3.4 x 1051 mol-1 s 1. Activation energies were very small, 2.2 and 5.5 kJ mol-1 for ethyl (EGA) and butyl (BCA) cyanoacrylates, respectively. Of a range of ammonium, phosphonium, and alkali metal salts only lithium bromide significantly reduced the rate of polymerization. Ogawa and Romero16 found the rate of acrylonitrile polymerization increased by the presence of an ammonium salt but reduced by lithium chloride. There may be a specific interaction between cyano substituted carbanions and the lithium cation. 

Cationic polymerization of thiiranes CMT (9-(thiiran-2-ylmethyl)-9//-carbazole) 217 and PMT (10-(thiiran-2ylmethyl)-1077-phenothiazine) 218 was studied by a Lithuanian group <2002JPH63>. Initiators were di-(/-butylphenyl)iodonium tetrafluoroborate (BPIT), diphenyliodonium tetrafluoroborate, cyclopropyldiphenylsulfonium tetrafluoroborate, and ( 7 -2,4-cyclopentadien-1 -yl) [1,2,3,4,5,6- )-( 1 -methylethyl)benzene]-iron(- -)-hexafluorophosphate(—1). The influences of temperature and initiator concentration on the polymerization rate and the conversion limit were determined. The values of initiator exponent and activation energy for the photopolymerization of CMT and PMT initiated with BPIT in 1,2-dichloroethane was established. 

Kinetic data for cationic polymerizations are not usually reliable enough to establish the activation energies for the various processes very well. In general, it is expected, however, that energies for reactions that involve free ions will approach zero and those of other species will be positive. 

The net activation energy for cationic polymerizations is low (< 10 kcal/mol) and may even be negative. In the latter case one observes a rate of polymerization that increases with decreasing temperature. This is very probably because the proportion of free ions increases as the temperature is lowered. If the equilibria... 

The formulation of two types of ion-pair is an attractive hypothesis which has been used for other systems [130] to explain differences in reactivity. The polymerization of styrene-type monomers in ether solvents, all of which solvate small cations efficiently, seems to be a particularly favourable case for the formation of thermodynamically distinct species. Situations can be visualized, however, in which two distinct species do not exist but only a more gradual change in properties of the ion-pair occurs as the solvent properties are changed. These possibilities, together with the factors influencing solvent-separated ion-pair formation, are discussed elsewhere [131, 132]. In the present case some of the temperature variation of rate coefficient could be explained in terms of better solvation of the transition state by the more basic ethers, a factor which will increase at lower temperatures [111]. This could produce a decrease in activation energy, particularly at low temperatures. It would, however, be difficult to explain the whole of the fep versus 1/T curve in tetrahydrofuran with its double inflection by this hypothesis and the independent spectroscopic and conductimetric evidence lends confidence to the whole scheme. 

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