Boron trifluoride polymerization

Aqueous mineral acids react with BF to yield the hydrates of BF or the hydroxyfluoroboric acids, fluoroboric acid, or boric acid. Solution in aqueous alkali gives the soluble salts of the hydroxyfluoroboric acids, fluoroboric acids, or boric acid. Boron trifluoride, slightly soluble in many organic solvents including saturated hydrocarbons (qv), halogenated hydrocarbons, and aromatic compounds, easily polymerizes unsaturated compounds such as butylenes (qv), styrene (qv), or vinyl esters, as well as easily cleaved cycHc molecules such as tetrahydrofuran (see Furan derivatives). Other molecules containing electron-donating atoms such as O, S, N, P, etc, eg, alcohols, acids, amines, phosphines, and ethers, may dissolve BF to produce soluble adducts. 

With the improvement of refining and purification techniques, many pure olefinic monomers are available for polymerization. Under Lewis acid polymerization, such as with boron trifluoride, very light colored resins are routinely produced. These resins are based on monomers such as styrene, a-methylstryene, and vinyltoluene (mixed meta- and i ra-methylstyrene). More recently, purified i ra-methylstyrene has become commercially available and is used in resin synthesis. Low molecular weight thermoplastic resins produced from pure styrene have been available since the mid-1940s resins obtained from substituted styrenes are more recent. 

Friedel-Crafts (Lewis) acids have been shown to be much more effective in the initiation of cationic polymerization when in the presence of a cocatalyst such as water, alkyl haUdes, and protic acids. Virtually all feedstocks used in the synthesis of hydrocarbon resins contain at least traces of water, which serves as a cocatalyst. The accepted mechanism for the activation of boron trifluoride in the presence of water is shown in equation 1 (10). Other Lewis acids are activated by similar mechanisms. In a more general sense, water may be replaced by any appropriate electron-donating species (eg, ether, alcohol, alkyl haUde) to generate a cationic intermediate and a Lewis acid complex counterion. 

Cationic polymerization of coal-tar fractions has been commercially achieved through the use of strong protic acids, as well as various Lewis acids. Sulfuric acid was the first polymerization catalyst (11). More recent technology has focused on the Friedel-Crafts polymerization of coal fractions to yield resins with higher softening points and better color. Typical Lewis acid catalysts used in these processes are aluminum chloride, boron trifluoride, and various boron trifluoride complexes (12). Cmde feedstocks typically contain 25—75% reactive components and may be refined prior to polymerization (eg, acid or alkali treatment) to remove sulfur and other undesired components. Table 1 illustrates the typical components found in coal-tar fractions and their corresponding properties. 

Catalysts used in the polymerization of C-5 diolefins and olefins, and monovinyl aromatic monomers, foUow closely with the systems used in the synthesis of aHphatic resins. Typical catalyst systems are AlCl, AIBr., AlCl —HCl—o-xylene complexes and sludges obtained from the Friedel-Crafts alkylation of benzene. Boron trifluoride and its complexes, as weU as TiCl and SnCl, have been found to result in lower yields and higher oligomer content in C-5 and aromatic modified C-5 polymerizations. 

Other THF polymerization processes that have been disclosed in papers and patents, but which do not appear to be in commercial use in the 1990s, include catalysis by boron trifluoride complexes in combination with other cocatalysts (241—245), modified montmorrillonite clay (246—248) or modified metal oxide composites (249), rare-earth catalysts (250), triflate salts (164), and sulfuric acid or Aiming sulfuric acid with cocatalysts (237,251—255). 

Alkylation of furan and thiophene has been effected with alkenes and catalysts such as phosphoric acid and boron trifluoride. In general, Friedel-Crafts alkylation of furans or thiophenes is not preparatively useful, partly because of polymerization by the catalyst and partly because of polyalkylation. 

The most important reaction with Lewis acids such as boron trifluoride etherate is polymerization (Scheme 30) (72MI50601). Other Lewis acids have been used SnCL, Bu 2A1C1, Bu sAl, Et2Zn, SO3, PFs, TiCU, AICI3, Pd(II) and Pt(II) salts. Trialkylaluminum, dialkylzinc and other alkyl metal initiators may partially hydrolyze to catalyze the polymerization by an anionic mechanism rather than the cationic one illustrated in Scheme 30. Cyclic dimers and trimers are often products of cationic polymerization reactions, and desulfurization of the monomer may occur. Polymerization of optically active thiiranes yields optically active polymers (75MI50600). 

Kawakami, Suzuki and Yamashita showed that compound 7, among many others, could be polymerized to derivatives of the corresponding open-chained species by treatment with boron trifluoride ether complex. Yamashita and Kawakami formed these same sorts of materials by heating the glycols and paraformaldehyde in the presence of toluenesulfonic acid. This led to prepolymers which were then thermally depolymerized to afford the cyclic oligomers which were separated by fractional distillation. 

Most of the compounds in this class have been prepared from preexisting crown ether units. By far, the most common approach is to use a benzo-substituted crown and an electrophilic condensation polymerization. A patent issued to Takekoshi, Scotia and Webb (General Electric) in 1974 which covered the formation of glyoxal and chloral type copolymers with dibenzo-18-crown-6. The latter were prepared by stirring the crown with an equivalent of chloral in chloroform solution. Boron trifluoride was catalyst in this reaction. The polymer which resulted was obtained in about 95% yield. The reaction is illustrated in Eq. (6.22). 

The oligomerization of cardanol with boron trifluoride etharate as the initiator was studied in detail by Antony et al. [171]. The reaction conditions were optimized by using gel permeation chromatography as 140°C with an initiator concentration of 1%. GPC data indicate conversion of all monoene, diene, and triene components into polymer except the saturated component, indicating participation of all the unsaturated components in polymerization. It is possible that the initiation of po-... 

Cationic polymerization of cyclic acetals generally involves equilibrium between monomer and polymer. The equilibrium nature of the cationic polymerization of 2 was ascertained by depolymerization experiments Methylene chloride solutions of the polymer ([P]0 = 1.76 and 1.71 base-mol/1) containing a catalytic amount of boron trifluoride etherate were allowed to stand for several days at 0 °C to give 2 which was in equilibrium with its polymer. The equilibrium concentrations ([M]e = 0.47 and 0.46 mol/1) were in excellent agreement with that found in the polymerization experiments under the same conditions. The thermodynamic parameters for the polymerization of 1 were evaluated from the temperature dependence of the equilibrium monomer concentrations between -20 and 30 °C. 

The polymerization of 1,3,3-trimethyl-2,7-dioxabicyclo[2.2.1 Jheptane 35 was carried out in methylene chloride, toluene, and 1-nitropropane at temperatures between —78 and 0 °C32l Boron trifluoride etherate, triethyloxonium tetrafluoro-borate, antimony pentachloride, and iodine were used as initiators. Irrespective of the solvents and initiators employed, the products obtained at 0 °C were white powders with melting points of 50—55 °C, while those obtained at tower temperatures were sirups. The number average molecular weight of the unfractionated products ranged from 400 to 600. The molecular weight distribution of the oligomers prepared at 0 °C was broad, in contrast to the relatively narrow distribution of those obtained at -40 °C. 

Tamura etal.2 described only briefly in their paper on dihydropyran derivatives that 6,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-7-one 53 and its methyl derivative underwent polymerization in the presence of a large amount of boron trifluoride etherate to give polymers with molecular weights of several hundreds. 

Two pieces of direct evidence support the manifestly plausible view that these polymerizations are propagated through the action of car-bonium ion centers. Eley and Richards have shown that triphenyl-methyl chloride is a catalyst for the polymerization of vinyl ethers in m-cresol, in which the catalyst ionizes to yield the triphenylcarbonium ion (C6H5)3C+. Secondly, A. G. Evans and Hamann showed that l,l -diphenylethylene develops an absorption band at 4340 A in the presence of boron trifluoride (and adventitious moisture) or of stannic chloride and hydrogen chloride. This band is characteristic of both the triphenylcarbonium ion and the diphenylmethylcarbonium ion. While similar observations on polymerizable monomers are precluded by intervention of polymerization before a sufficient concentration may be reached, similar ions should certainly be expected to form under the same conditions in styrene, and in certain other monomers also. In analogy with free radical polymerizations, the essential chain-propagating step may therefore be assumed to consist in the addition of monomer to a carbonium ion... 

It is much more likely that initiation involves transfer of a proton, or possibly some other cation, to the monomer. Thus, the mechanism proposed by Evans and Polanyi and others to account for the polymerization of isobutylene in the presence of boron trifluoride monohydrate is represented as follows ... 

Cationic polymerization of dienes using boron trifluoride or aluminum chloride as catalysts seems also to favor the rans-1,4 structure, although 1,2 and 3,4 units also are present. These catalysts also cause cyclization of the structural units, with a consequent decrease in the unsaturation in the polymer. 

Homogeneous catalysts are also often used in cationic and anionic polymerization processes. Lewis acid catalysts, such as boron trifluoride and stannic chloride, accept protons from co-... 

In 1970, a patent by Fukui and coworkers cited the cationic polymerization of ethyl vinyl ether in liquid C02 [85]. In these reactions, SnCl4 or ethyl etherate of boron trifluoride were employed as the catalysts and the polymerizations were conducted for 20 hours at room temperature to conversion of greater than 90% polymer. No molecular weight data or spectra for these polymers were reported in this work. 

The formation of alkenes and alkene-related polymerization products can seriously reduce the yields of desired alkane products from secondary alcohols, which can undergo elimination reactions. For example, reduction of 2-octanol at 0° with boron trifluoride gas in dichloromethane containing 1.2 equivalents of tri-ethylsilane gives only a 58% yield of n-octane after 75 minutes (Eq. II).129 The remainder of the hydrocarbon mass comprises nonvolatile polymeric material.126... 

Usually the stronger acids are also the more effective co-catalysts, but exceptions to this rule are known. Trichloroacetic acid, but not the equally strong picric acid, will co-catalyze the system isobutene-titanium tetrachloride in hexane.2 8 Some Lewis acid-olefin systems will not polymerize at all in the absence of a co-catalyst, an example being isobutene with boron trifluoride.2 4 This fact, together with the markedly slower reaction usual with carefully dried materials, has nourished the current suspicion that a co-catalyst may be necessary in every Lewis acid-olefin polymerization. It is very difficult to eliminate small traces of water which could act as a co-catalyst or generate mineral acid, and it may well be that the reactions which are slower when drier would not go at all if they could be made completely dry. 

Another differential reaction is copolymerization. An equi-molar mixture of styrene and methyl methacrylate gives copolymers of different composition depending on the initiator. The radical chains started by benzoyl peroxide are 51 % polystyrene, the cationic chains from stannic chloride or boron trifluoride etherate are 100% polystyrene, and the anionic chains from sodium or potassium are more than 99 % polymethyl methacrylate.444 The radicals attack either monomer indiscriminately, the carbanions prefer methyl methacrylate and the carbonium ions prefer styrene. As can be seen from the data of Table XIV, the reactivity of a radical varies considerably with its structure, and it is worth considering whether this variability would be enough to make a radical derived from sodium or potassium give 99 % polymethyl methacrylate.446 If so, the alkali metal intitiated polymerization would not need to be a carbanionic chain reaction. However, the polymer initiated by triphenylmethyl sodium is also about 99% polymethyl methacrylate, whereas tert-butyl peroxide and >-chlorobenzoyl peroxide give 49 to 51 % styrene in the initial polymer.445... 

The first species produced in cationic polymerizations are carbocations, and these were unknown as such prior to World War II. It is now known that pure Lewis acids, such as boron trifluoride and aluminum chloride, are not effective as initiators. A trace of a proton-containing Lewis base, such as water, is also required. The Lewis base coordinates with the electrophilic Lewis acid, and the proton is the actual initiator. Since cations cannot exist alone, they are accompanied by a counterion, also called a gegenion. 

Which of the following could be used to initiate the polymerization of isobutylene (a) sulfuric acid, (b) boron trifluoride etherate, (c) water, or (d) butyllithium ... 

When the polymerization of the isobutylene was carried out in liquid phase using pure liquid or a solution, reaction took place instantaneously on addition of the boron trifluoride, no third substance being necessary (Evans et al., 86). Indeed, gas phase mixtures of pure isobutylene with boron trifluoride which showed no fast reaction in the gas phase always reacted when condensed by cooling in liquid air. 

Levulinic acid, acting in its lactone form (XXXII) undergoes dehydration and two products have been obtained, - and /3-angelica lactones, (XXXVIII) and (XXXIX), respectively. a-Angelica lactone has been found to polymerize to a tacky resin by the catalytic agency of boron trifluoride. 

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