1.3-Butadiene free-radical addition

The free radical addition of thiols to olefins provides TOtentially versatile method for antioxidant adduct formation in rubbers. This is shown for nitrile-butadiene rubber in Scheme 1, but it is applicable in principle to any rubber which has a reactive double bond. Three main methods have been used to carry out the reaction. 

A common way of representing the situation schematically is indicated in (XXIII) for butadiene. Bond orders are indicated on the bonds and free valences by arrows. It is clear that butadiene has a good deal more residual bonding capacity on its terminal atoms, and this is consistent with the fact that free radical attack on butadiene occurs predominantly on the end atoms. Other examples of correlation between free valence and rate of free radical addition have been reported. A plot of rate data for methyl... 

As with suspension polymerization, commerdal emulsion polymerization has pretty much been restricted to the free-radical addition of water-insoluble, liquid monomers (with volatile monomers such as butadiene and vinyl chloride, moderate pressures are required to keep them in the liquid phase). Inverse emulsion polymerizations, with a hydrophylic monomer phase dispersed in a continuous hydrophobic phase, are possible, however. 

Styrene-butadiene rubber is prepared from the free-radical copolymerization of one part by weight of styrene and three parts by weight of 1,3-butadiene. The butadiene is incorporated by both 1,4-addition (80%) and 1,2-addition (20%). The configuration around the double bond of the 1,4-adduct is about 80% trans. The product is a random copolymer with these general features ... 

Addition Reactions. 1,3-Butadiene reacts readily via 1,2- and 1,4-free radical or electrophilic addition reactions (31) to produce 1-butene or 2-butene substituted products, respectively. 

Butadiene reacts readily with oxygen to form polymeric peroxides, which are not very soluble in Hquid butadiene and tend to setde at the bottom of the container because of their higher density. The peroxides are shock sensitive therefore it is imperative to exclude any source of oxygen from butadiene. Addition of antioxidants like /-butylcatechol (TBC) or butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT) removes free radicals that can cause rapid exothermic polymerizations. Butadiene shipments now routinely contain about 100 ppm TBC. Before use, the inhibitor can easily be removed (247,248). Inert gas, such as nitrogen, can also be used to blanket contained butadiene (249). 

Butadiene is also known to form mbbery polymers caused by polymerization initiators like free radicals or oxygen. Addition of antioxidants like TBC and the use of lower storage temperatures can substantially reduce fouling caused by these polymers. Butadiene and other olefins, such as isoprene, styrene, and chloroprene, also form so-called popcorn polymers (250). These popcorn polymers are hard, opaque, and porous. They have been reported to... 

The chemical structure of SBR is given in Fig. 4. Because butadiene has two carbon-carbon double bonds, 1,2 and 1,4 addition reactions can be produced. The 1,2 addition provides a pendant vinyl group on the copolymer chain, leading to an increase in Tg. The 1,4 addition may occur in cis or trans. In free radical emulsion polymerization, the cis to trans ratio can be varied by changing the temperature (at low temperature, the trans form is favoured), and about 20% of the vinyl pendant group remains in both isomers. In solution polymerization the pendant vinyl group can be varied from 10 to 90% by choosing the adequate solvent and catalyst system. 

Chemistry of polychloroprene rubber. Polychloroprene elastomers are produced by free-radical emulsion polymerization of the 2-chloro-1,3-butadiene monomer. The monomer is prepared by either addition of hydrogen chloride to monovinyl acetylene or by the vapour phase chlorination of butadiene at 290-300°C. This latter process was developed in 1960 and produces a mixture of 3,4-dichlorobut-l-ene and 1,4-dichlorobut-2-ene, which has to be dehydrochlorinated with alkali to produce chloroprene. 

Butadiene could be polymerized using free radical initiators or ionic or coordination catalysts. When butadiene is polymerized in emulsion using a free radical initiator such as cumene hydroperoxide, a random polymer is obtained with three isomeric configurations, the 1,4-addition configuration dominating ... 

Isoprene can be polymerized using free radical initiators, but a random polymer is obtained. As with butadiene, polymerization of isoprene can produce a mixture of isomers. However, because the isoprene molecule is asymmetrical, the addition can occur in 1,2-, 1,4- and 3,4- positions. Six tactic forms are possible from both 1,2- and 3,4- addition and two geometrical isomers from 1,4- addition (cis and trans) ... 

In the free radical polymerization of 1,3-dienes, 1,4 addition dominates 1,2 addition. The proportion of 1,2 (and 3,4 )units decreases in passing from butadiene to its methyl and chlorine substitution products isoprene, 2,3-dimethylbutadiene and chloroprene. The trans configuration of the 1,4 unit from butadiene is formed preferentially, the proportion of trans increasing rapidly with lowering of the polymerization temperature. 

Diels-Alder adduct from cyclopentadiene, 8 222t Diels-Alder reactions of, 25 488-489 economic aspects of, 25 507-509 electrophilic addition of, 25 490 in ene reactions, 25 490 esterification of, 25 491 free-radical reactions of, 25 491 from butadiene, 4 371 Grignard-type reactions of, 25 491 halogenation of, 15 491—492 health and safety factors related to, 25 510-511... 

Conjugated dienes such as 1,3-butadiene very readily polymerize free radically. The important thing to remember here is that there are double bonds still present in the polymer. This is especially important in the case of elastomers (synthetic rubbers) because some cross-linking with disulfide bridges (vulcanization) can occur in the finished polymer at the allylic sites still present to provide elastic properties to the overall polymers. Vulcanization will be discussed in detail in Chapter 18, Section 3. The mechanism shown in Fig. 14.3 demonstrates only the 1,4-addition of butadiene for simplicity. 1,2-Addition also occurs, and the double bonds may be cis or trans in their stereochemistry. Only with the metal complex... 

In general, there are two distinctively different classes of polymerization (a) addition or chain growth polymerization and (b) condensation or step growth polymerization. In the former, the polymers are synthesized by the addition of one unsaturated unit to another, resulting in the loss of multiple bonds. Some examples of addition polymers are (a) poly(ethylene), (b) poly(vinyl chloride), (c) poly(methyl methacrylate), and (d) poly(butadiene). The polymerization is initiated by a free radical, which is generated from one of several easily decomposed compounds. Examples of free radical initiators include (a) benzoyl peroxide, (b) di-tert-butyl peroxide, and (c) azobiisobutyronitrile. 

Pyrroles, furans and thiophenes react preferentially with free radicals at the 2-position. Thus, reaction of pyrrole with benzyl radicals gives 2-benzylpyrrole. With triphenylmethyl radicals, pyrrole behaves like butadiene giving the adduct (163). /V-Methylpyrrole undergoes free radical benzoyloxyla-tion with dibenzoyl peroxide to give the 2-benzoyloxypyrrole (164) and 2,5-dibenzoyloxypyrrole (165). Furan, however, is converted in good yield to a mixture of cis and trans addition products analogous in structure to (163). 

The reaction may be initiated by addition of a free radical from the catalyst to either butadiene or styrene ... 

The reactions (21) and (22) are particularly important. The first one leads to the main products. The second one emphasizes the formation of acetylene, further involved in the formation of other impurities, such as benzene and vinyl-acetylene. The third and the fourth reactions explain the formation of light unsaturated hydrocarbons. In the presence of free radicals they may produce a variety of higher molecular species, some unsaturated as butadiene (reaction (25)) and chloroprene (reaction (26)). The chloroprene, formed by the addition of acetylene to vinyl-chloride, is highly undesired. 

The second problem in the addition of 1,1-dichlorodifluoroethylene to 1,3-butadiene is regiospecificity. Carbon 1 of 1,3-butadiene may become attached either to the carbon holding two chlorines or to the carbon with two fluorines. The cycloaddition of fluorinated alkenes is usually not a concerted four-center reaction in which the bonds are formed simultaneously or nearly so. Instead, the reaction is a stepwise biradical process in which the first step is formation of a free-radical intermediate with a single electron at that end of the double bond that can better accomodate it. That happens at the carbon linked to two chlorine atoms. Thus, a biradical is formed that cyclizes to form 2,2-dichloro-l,l-difluoro-3-vinylcyclobutane M [118, 119, 720]. 

Similar arguments can be used to explain the products observed in the addition of halogens to symmetrical and unsymmetrical alkylallenes (Fedorova, 1963 Fedorova and Petrov, 1961). More recently the formation of 96 (80-90%), 97 (10-15%), and 98 (1-3%) was observed by Poutsma (1968) for the chlorination of 3-methyl-1,2-butadiene under a variety of conditions in the presence of oxygen to inhibit free-radical side processes. 

Chain propagation occurs by the growing chain free radical attacking either the butadiene or styrene monomer. The active radical chain can react with mercaptan to form a new mercaptyl radical and a terminated chain. The mercaptyl radical then can initiate an additional chain. The molecular weight of the chain P can be controlled by the concentration of mercaptan via this chain transfer mechanism. 

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