Butadiene polymerization microstructure

Polymerization of butadiene with lithium morpholinide, an initiator with a built-in microstructure modifier, has been carried out in hexane. In general, the vinyl content of the polymers prepared with this initiator is dependent on the initiator concentrations and on the polymerization temperatures. This dependence is identical to that observed in a THF-modified lithium diethylamide polymerization initiator system. A comparison of these initiator systems for polymerization of butadiene is presented. In addition, a study of the effect of metal alkoxides on the vinyl content of lithium morpholinide initiated butadiene polymerization is included. 

Polymerization was carried out in benzene in the presence of bis-(7r-allylnickel halides). The latter were prepared from nickel carbonyl and allyl halide (allyl bromide, crotyl chloride, bromide, or iodide etc.). The results of the polymerization runs are reported in Table I. The data indicate that all of the bis(7r-allylnickel halides) initiate by themselves the stereospecific butadiene polymerization yielding a polymer with 97-98% 1,4-units. The cis-l,4/trans-l,4 ratio depends on the halide in the dimeric r-allylnickel halide but not on the nature of allylic ligand. The case of bis(7r-crotylnickel halides) shows the effect of halide on microstructure, for whereas (C4H7NiCl)2 initiates cis- 1,4-polybutadiene formation, trans-1,4 polymers are produced by (C4H7NiI)2. The reactivity increase in the series Cl < Br < I. 

Butadiene polymerizes with heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts and there have been several detailed kinetic investigations. Features of special interest are the marked dependence of polymer microstructure on... 

As in the case of butadiene polymerization, the microstructure of polyisoprene is dependent upon the ratio of catalyst components, the reaction temperature, and the reaction medium. As shown in Table V, using an aluminum triethyl-titanium tetrachloride catalyst system, an Al/Ti ratio of 1.0 or higher yields a polyisoprene containing 96% cis-1,4-, 4% 3,4-, and essentially no trans-, A- or 1,2- units. Below this ratio, the trans-, A- structure is produced apparently at the expense of the cis-1,4- structure (I). An AlBua-TiCLt catalyst system is reported (7) to yield an essentially all- rarw-l,4-polyisoprene at an Al/Ti ratio of 0.67 and below. 

In butadiene polymerization with Ti(CH2Ph)4 a microstructure of the chain with 20% A-cis, 20% 1,4-trans and 60% 1,2 units was obtained, and with Ti(CH2Ph)3l a very high, 4-cis selectivity of 97 % was realized. 

A free-radical polymerization mechanism can be excluded on the basis of the polymer microstructure and experiments with radical inhibitors. Rhodium(I)-spe-cies, formed by reduction of Rh " salts used as catalyst precursors by butadiene monomer, have been suggested as the active species. The catalyst is stable during the aqueous polymerization for over 30 h [23]. Catalyst activities are moderate with up to ca. 2x10 TO h [24, 25]. By contrast to industrially important free-radical copolymerization, styrene is not incorporated in the rhodium-catalyzed butadiene polymerization [26]. Only scarce data is available regarding the stability and other properties of the polymer dispersions obtained. Precipitation of considerable portions of the polymer has been mentioned at high conversions in butadiene polymerization [23, 27]. 

NMR studies show that the complex carrying the growing chain in the butadiene polymerization with bis[(77 -allyl)nickel-trifluoracetate] is predominantly in the form of a binuclear syn-(Tj -allyl)nickel complex. With [(rj -allyONillj polybutadiene is formed with 97% trans-1,4 microstructure. ... 

The preparation of tertiary amine-functionalized polydienes is less problematic than the situation for primary amine-functionalized polymers. 3-Dimethylaminopropyllithium can be prepared by lithiation of the corresponding alkyl chloride in hexane at 20 ° C, followed by replacement of the solvent by benzene. Using this initiator for butadiene polymerization in hexane at room temperature, a-dimethylaminopolybuta-dienes with high (76-86%) 1,4-microstructure were produced. It was noted that the amount of vinyl microstructure in the resulting polybutadienes increased with the amount of diamine impurity formed by Wurtz coupling during the synthesis of the initiator. 

Polybutadiene Microstructure. Butadiene polymerizes by addition. Having two double bonds, it forms a variety of polymer structures. One of these, known as the vinyl or 1,2-type, results from addition across just one of the double bonds (eq. 3). 

Finally it should be stressed that the complexation affects the microstructure of poly dienes. As was shown by Langer I56) small amounts of diamines added to hydrocarbon solutions of polymerizing lithium polydienes modify their structure from mainly 1,4 to a high percentage of vinyl unsaturation, e.g., for an equivalent amount of TMEDA at 0 °C 157) the fraction of the vinyl amounts to about 80%. Even more effective is 1,2-dipiperidinoethane, DIPIP. It produces close to 100% of vinyl units when added in equimolar amount to lithium in a polymerization of butadiene carried out at 5 °C 158 159), but it is slightly less effective in the polymerization of isoprene 160>. 

Measurements of polymerization rate and parallel measurements on the resultant polymer microstructure in the butadiene/DIPIP system cannot be reconciled with the supposition that only one of the above diamine solvated complexes (eg. Pi S) is active in polymerization 162). This is probably true of other diene polymerizations and other diamines. The observations suggest a more complex system than described above for styrene polymerization in presence of TMEDA, This result is clearly connected with the increased association number of uncomplexed diene living ends which permits a greater variety of complexes to be formed. 

Polymerization Temperature. The stereoregularity of polybutadienes prepared with the BuLi-barium t-butoxide-hydroxide catalyst in toluene is exceedingly temperature dependent. Figure 6 compares the trans-1,4 dependence for polybutadiene prepared with BuLi, alone, and with the BuLi-barium t-butoxide-hydroxide complex in toluene (the molar ratio of the initial butadiene to BuLi concentration was 500). The upper curve demonstrates that the percent trans content increased rapidly from 627. to 807. trans-1,4 as the temperature decreased from 75°C to 22°C. From 22°C to 5°C, the microstructure does not change. The increase in trans-1,4 content occurred with a decrease in cis-1,4 content, the amount of vinyl unsaturation remaining at 5-87.. For the polybutadienes prepared using BuLi alone, there is only a very slight increase in the trans-1,4 content as the polymerization temperature is decreased. 

The synthesis and characterization of a series of dendrigraft polymers based on polybutadiene segments was reported by Hempenius et al. [15], The synthesis begins with a linear-poly(butadiene) (PB) core obtained by the sec-butyllithium-initiated anionic polymerization of 1,3-butadiene in n-hexane, to give a microstructure containing approximately 6% 1,2-units (Scheme 3). The pendant vinyl moities are converted into electrophilic grafting sites by hydrosilylation with... 

The information on physical properties of radiation cross-linking of polybutadiene rubber and butadiene copolymers was obtained in a fashion similar to that for NR, namely, by stress-strain measurements. From Table 5.6, it is evident that the dose required for a full cure of these elastomers is lower than that for natural rubber. The addition of prorads allows further reduction of the cure dose with the actual value depending on the microstructure and macrostructure of the polymer and also on the type and concentration of the compounding ingredients, such as oils, processing aids, and antioxidants in the compound. For example, solution-polymerized polybutadiene rubber usually requires lower doses than emulsion-polymerized rubber because it contains smaller amount of impurities than the latter. Since the yield of scission G(S) is relatively small, particularly when oxygen is excluded, tensile... 

Kinetics in Non-Polar Media. Polymerization of vinyl monomers in non-polar solvents, i.e., hydrocarbon media, has been almost entirely restricted to the organolithium systems (7), since the latter yield homogeneous solutions. In addition, there has been a particularly strong interest in the polymerization of the 1,3-dienes, e.g., isoprene and butadiene, because these systems lead to high 1,4 chain structures, which yield rubbery polymers. In the case of isoprene, especially, it is possible to actually obtain a polymer with more than 90% of the eis-1,4 chain structure (7, 8, 9), closely resembling the microstructure of the natural rubber molecule. 

Figures 1 and 2 show the dependence of polymer microstructure on the molecular weight of the polymer and therefore on the initial initiator concentration. The polymerization temperature also has an effect on the microstructure as can be seen in Figure 3 for polybutadiene. The overall heat activation energy leading to 1,2 addition is greater than that leading to 1,4 addition.2 IZ In summary, the stereochemistry of polymerization of butadiene and isoprene is sensitive to initiator level, polymerization temperature and solvent. The initiator structure (i.e., organic moiety of the initiator), the monomer concentration and conversion have essentially no effect on polymer microstructure.

Copolymerization of butadiene and styrene in hexane with a number of initiators, such as lithium morpholinide, lithium dialkylamide, lithium piperidinide, etc., has also been examined. In general, the microstructure and styrene content of the polymers are dependent on the type of initiator and the polymerization conditions. Detailed results including a postulated mechanism for these polymerizations are discussed. 

The polymerization of butadiene with lithium diethylamide was conducted at several different temperatures. In general, the conversion to polymer was reasonable (75-89%), and the microstructure was independent of polymerization temperatures and initiator levels over the range investigated. These results are shown in Table IV. 

The effect of THF on the microstructure of lithium diethylamide initiated polymerization of butadiene-1,3 was studied. 

The temperature dependency of 1,2 content shown in Table II is also consistent with complex formation between polybutadienyl-lithium and the oxygen atom in the lithium morpholinide moleculre. One can visualize an equilibrium between noncom-plexed and complexed molecules which would be influenced by temperature. Higher temperatures would favor dissociation of the complex and, therefore, the 1,2 content of the polymer would be lower than that from the low temperature polymerization. This explanation is supported by the polymerization of butadiene with lithium diethylamide, in which the microstructure of the polybutadiene remains constant regardless of the polymerization temperature (Table IV). This is presumably due to the fact that trialkylamines are known to be poor... 

Anionic polymerization dates back at least to the early part of this century. Indeed, sodium-initiated butadiene polymers were investigated as potential synthetic rubbers many years ago. Unfortunately, the derived, high 1,2 microstructure shows a T, of about 0°C. Electron transfer initiators also were studied by Scott in 1936. 

The commerical polybutadiene (a highly 1,4 polymer with about equal amounts of cis and trans content) produced by anionic polymerization of 1,3-butadiene (lithium or organolithium initiation in a hydrocarbon solvent) offers some advantages compared to those manufactured by other polymerization methods (e.g., it is free from metal impurities). In addition, molecular weight distributions and microstructure can easily be modifed by applying appropriate experimental conditions. In contrast with polyisoprene, where high cis content is necessary for suitable mechanical properties, these nonstereoselective but dominantly 1,4-polybutadienes are suitable for practical applications.184,482... 

Slcreospecific solution polymerization has been emphasized since the discovery of the complex coordination catalyses that yield polymers or butadiene and isoprene having highly ordered microstructures. The catalysts used are usually mixtures of organometallic and transition metal compounds. An example of one of these polymers is cis- 1.4-polybutadiene. 

In the 1960s, anionic polymerized solutron SBR (SSBR) began to challenge emulsion SBR in the automotive tire market. Organolithium compounds allow control of the butadiene microstructure, not possible with ESBR. Because this type of chain polymerization takes place without a termination step, an easy synthesis of block polymers is available, whereby glassy (polystyrene) and rubbery (polybutadicnc) segments can be combined in the same molecule. These thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) have found use ill nontire applications. 

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