Branch reactions

During the polymeriza tion process the normal head-to-tad free-radical reaction of vinyl chloride deviates from the normal path and results in sites of lower chemical stabiUty or defect sites along some of the polymer chains. These defect sites are small in number and are formed by autoxidation, chain termination, or chain-branching reactions. Heat stabilizer technology has grown from efforts to either chemically prevent or repair these defect sites. Partial stmctures (3—6) are typical of the defect sites found in PVC homopolymers (2—5). 

It is noteworthy that even a separate treatment of the initial data on branched reactions (1) and (2) (hydrogenation of crotonaldehyde to butyr-aldehyde and to crotyl alcohol) results in practically the same values of the adsorption coefficient of crotonaldehyde (17 and 19 atm-1)- This indicates that the adsorbed form of crotonaldehyde is the same in both reactions. From the kinetic viewpoint it means that the ratio of the initial rates of both branched reactions of crotonaldehyde is constant, as follows from Eq. (31) simplified for the initial rate, and that the selectivity of the formation of butyraldehyde and crotyl alcohol is therefore independent of the initial partial pressure of crotonaldehyde. This may be the consequence of a very similar chemical nature of both reaction branches. 

Nevertheless, in another branched reaction, the hydrogenolysis of methylcyclopentane on Pt-AhOs (10% Pt) at 230°C, leading to 2- and 3-methylpentane (n-hexane is not practically formed under the conditions used)... 

The values of the adsorption coefficient of hydrogen for both reactions were practically identical (1.9 and 2.1 atm-1). Here, the selectivity of the branched reactions depends on the partial pressure of methylcyclopentane. This difference may be accounted for by assuming that either the cleavage of the C—C bond of methylcyclopentane in the (3-position and in the 7-position with respect to the methyl group does not take place on the same sites of the surface of platinum (or on the sites of the same activity), or that the mechanism of hydrogenolysis is more complex than that ex-... 

A similar difference in the adsorption coefficients of the starting reactant of branched reactions was also found in the parallel dehydration and dehydrogenation of isopropyl alcohol on some oxide catalyst (123) here, of course, the chemical nature of both branches is clearly different. It is of interest, however, to note that for the series of catalysts with varying... 

Gamer and Hailes [462] postulated a chain branching reaction in the decomposition of mercury fulminate, since the values of n( 10—20) were larger than could be considered consistent with power law equation [eqn. (2)] obedience. If the rate of nucleation is constant (0 = 1 for the generation of a new nuclei at a large number of sites, N0) and there is a constant rate of branching of existing nuclei (ftB), the nucleation law is... 

Reference to the decomposition of KMn04 has already been made in the discussion of chain branching reactions (Chap. 3, Sect. 3.2) in which the participation of a highly reactive intermediate was postulated. This work provided a theoretical explanation of the Prout—Tompkins rate equation [eqn. (9)]. Isothermal decomposition in vacuum of freshly prepared crystals at 473—498 K gives symmetrical sigmoid a time curves which are described by the expression... 

Although the first reaction is of an ordinary sort, the next two are unusual in that one propagating intermediate is converted into two. These are branching reactions. As each occurs, the total rate speeds up. When that happens, even more branching occurs, and so on. If unchecked, the exponential growth of chain carriers leads to explosion, just as in nuclear chain reactions. 

Biexponential kinetics, 72-76 Biphasic kinetics, 72-76 Bloch equations, 261 Branching reactions, 189 Brpnsted-Bjerrum equation, 204... 

Equatiog 8 can be used to give the exact overall branching reaction rate Rp. ... 

Coordination polymerization Can engineer polymers with specific tacticities based on the catalyst system Can limit branching reactions Polymerization can occur at low pressures and modest temperatures Otherwise non-polymerizable monomers (e.g., propylene) can be polymerized Mainly applicable to olefinic monomers... 

In addition to the above equation, in the absence of branching reactions, it is also possible to write a balance for the number of initiator fragments attached to the polymer molecules. 

In the case of the hydrogen-bromine reaction, each of the elementary propagation reactions led to the formation of a single chain carrier. This type of reaction is said to be a straight or linear chain reaction. Some mechanisms involve elementary propagation reactions in which more than a single chain carrier is formed by the reaction. This type of reaction is known as a branching reaction. Examples of such reactions are... 

A chain branching reaction is one that leads to an increase in the number of chain carriers present in a reacting system (e.g., 4.2.9). When such reactions occur to a significant extent, the... 

Branching reactions appear to be a unique indication of the existence of spatial constraints at growth sites. Analogies between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis are pertinent. 

Semenov worked out the concept of chain branching reactions N. N. Semenov [49]... 

Korzekwa KR, Trager WF, Gillette JR. Theory for the observed isotope effects from enzymatic systems that form multiple products via branched reaction pathways cytochrome P-450. Biochemistry 1989 28(23) 9012-9018. 

---