Molecule branched

The amount of branching introduced into a polymer is an additional variable that must be specified for the molecule to be fully characterized. When only a slight degree of branching is present, the concentration of junction points is sufficiently low that these may be simply related to the number of chain ends. For example, two separate linear molecules have a total of four ends. If the end of one of these linear molecules attaches itself to the middle of the other to form a T, the resulting molecule has three ends. It is easy to generalize this result. If a molecule has v branches, it has v 2 chain ends if the branching is relatively low. Branched molecules are sometimes described as either combs or... 

Figure 2.14 Reptation model for entanglements for (a) a linear molecule and (b) a branched molecule.

The molecules used in the study described in Fig. 2.15 were model compounds characterized by a high degree of uniformity. When branching is encountered, it is generally in a far less uniform way. As a matter of fact, traces of impurities or random chain transfer during polymer preparation may result in a small amount of unsuspected branching in samples of ostensibly linear molecules. Such adventitious branched molecules can have an effect on viscosity which far exceeds their numerical abundance. It is quite possible that anomalous experimental results may be due to such effects. 

Criticize or defend the following proposition In dilute solutions, branching affects viscosity only inasmuch as the branched molecule has a more compact shape. At higher concentrations, the effect of branching is closer to a bulk effect. 

As the length and frequency of branches increase, they may ultimately reach from chain to chain. If all the chains are coimected together, a cross-linked or network polymer is formed. Cross-links may be built in during the polymerisation reaction by incorporation of sufficient tri- or higher functional monomers, or may be created chemically or by radiation between previously formed linear or branched molecules (curing or vulcanisation). Eor example, a Hquid epoxy (Table 1) oligomer (low molecular weight polymer) with a 6-8 is cured to a cross-linked soHd by reaction of the hydroxyl and... 

This will lead initially to branched chain structures such as indicated schematically in Figure 2.10, G indicating a glycerol residue and P a phthalic acid residue. In due course these branched molecules will join up, leading to a cross-linked three-dimensional product. 

The UF-resin itself is formed in the acid condensation step, where the same high molar ratio as in the alkaline methylolation step is used (F/U = 1.8 to 2.5) the methylolureas, urea and the residual free formaldehyde react to form linear and partly branched molecules with medium and even higher molar masses, forming polydispersed UF-resins composed of oligomers and polymers of different molar m.asses. Molar ratios lower than approx. 1.7-1.8 during this acid condensation step might cause resin precipitation. 

Isomerization reactions occur frequently in catalytic cracking, and infrequently in thermal cracking. In both, breaking of a bond is via beta-scission. However, in catalytic cracking, carbocations tend to rearrange to form tertiary ions. Tertiary ions are more stable than secondary and primary ions they shift around and crack to produce branched molecules (Equation 4-10). (In thermal cracking, free radicals yield normal or straight chain compounds.)... 

Fig. 18.6 Joining up of (a) long-chain molecules or (b) branched molecules to produce (c) a...

In terms of tonnage the bulk of plastics produced are thermoplastics, a group which includes polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (p.v.c.), the nylons, polycarbonates and cellulose acetate. There is however a second class of materials, the thermosetting plastics. They are supplied by the manufacturer either as long-chain molecules, similar to a typical thermoplastic molecule or as rather small branched molecules. They are shaped and then subjected to either heat or chemical reaction, or both, in such a way that the molecules link one with another to form a cross-linked network (Fig. 18.6). As the molecules are now interconnected they can no longer slide extensively one past the other and the material has set, cured or cross linked. Plastics materials behaving in this way are spoken of as thermosetting plastics, a term which is now used to include those materials which can in fact cross link with suitable catalysts at room temperature. 

Alkanes with long, unbranched chains tend to have higher melting points, boiling points, and enthalpies of vaporization than those of their branched isomers. The difference arises because, compared with unbranched molecules, the atoms of neighboring branched molecules cannot get as close together (Fig. 18.5). As a result, molecules with branched chains have weaker intermolecular forces than their unbranched isomers. 

The difference can be traced to the weaker London forces that exist in branched molecules. Atoms in neighboring branched molecules cannot lie as close together as they can in un branched isomers. 

Dendrimers have distinctive properties, such as the ability to entrap small molecules in their core region and very low intrinsic viscosities in solution. Such properties require molecules to have achieved a particular size, and not all molecules with branches radiating from a core are large enough to develop the characteristic properties of true dendrimers. Branched molecules below this critical size are called dendrons and are the equivalent in dendrimer chemistry of oligomers in polymer chemistry. 

Percolation is widely observed in chemical systems. It was first recognized as a method to describe how small, branched molecules react to form polymers,... 

More recently, Kim et al. synthesized dendritic [n] pseudorotaxane based on the stable charge-transfer complex formation inside cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8j) (Fig. 17) [59]. Reaction of triply branched molecule 47 containing an electron deficient bipyridinium unit on each branch, and three equiv of CB[8] forms branched [4] pseudorotaxane 48 which has been characterized by NMR and ESI mass spectrometry. Addition of three equivalents of electron-rich dihydrox-ynaphthalene 49 produces branched [4]rotaxane 50, which is stabilized by charge-transfer interactions between the bipyridinium unit and dihydroxy-naphthalene inside CB[8]. No dethreading of CB[8] is observed in solution. Reaction of [4] pseudorotaxane 48 with three equiv of triply branched molecule 51 having an electron donor unit on one arm and CB[6] threaded on a diaminobutane unit on each of two remaining arms produced dendritic [ 10] pseudorotaxane 52 which may be considered to be a second generation dendritic pseudorotaxane. 

A branched molecule obviously will extend over a smaller volume than would a linear one of the same molecular weight, or number of units. In other words, will be smaller for the nonlinear polymer of the same number n of equivalent elements. Hence it is convenient to write for a nonlinear polymer ... 

Linear guest molecules are included along these canals in an extended planar zig-zag conformation. Branched molecules are generally excluded unless branching occurs near the end of a long linear chain, but aromatic derivatives can be included if they have a long alkyl chain 38). The review article by Takemoto and Sonoda 21) contains an excellent survey of the types of molecules known to form urea inclusion compounds and of the means used to study their detailed conformations and thermal motion. 

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