Copolymerization alternating copolymers

Acrylate polymerizations are markedly inhibited by oxygen therefore, considerable care is taken to exclude air during the polymerization stages of manufacturing. This inhibitory effect has been shown to be caused by copolymerization of oxygen with monomer, forming an alternating copolymer (81,82). 

VEs can also copolymerize by free-radical initiation with a variety of comonomers. According to the and rvalues of 0.023 and —1.77 (isobutyl vinyl ether), VEs are expected to form ideal copolymers with monomers of similar and e values or alternating copolymers with monomers such as maleic anhydride (MAN) that have high values of opposite sign (Q = 0.23 e = 2.25). 

A variety of trichloroethylene copolymers have been reported, none with apparent commercial significance. The alternating copolymer with vinyl acetate has been patented as an adhesive (11) and as a flame retardant (12,13). Copolymerization with 1,3-butadiene and its homologues has been reported (14—16). Other comonomers include acrylonitrile (17), isobutyl vinyl ether (18), maleic anhydride (19), and styrene (20). 

In the Type II case, the copolymerization tends toward an alternating arrangement of monomer units. Curve II of Figure 1 shows an example of an alternating copolymer that has an azeotropic copolymer composition, ie, a copolymer composition equal to the monomer feed at a single monomer feed composition. This case is analogous to a constant Foiling mixture ia vapor—Hquid equihbria.T) III... 

It was recently found that j3-PCPY can also be used as a radical initiator to obtain an alternate copolymer of MMA with styrene [35], which was only possible in the presence of Lewis acids [36,37] in the past. The kinetics of the system has been formulated as Rp a[/3-PCPY] a[MMA] (l/a[Styrene] The values of kp /k, and AE were evaluated as 1.43 x 10 L mol -s and 87 kJ/ mol, respectively, for the system. NMR spectroscopy was used to determine the structure composition and stereochemistry of copolymers. Radical copolymerization of AN with styrene [38] by using /3-PCPY as the initiator at 55-65°C also resulted in an alternate copolymer. Rp is a direct function of /3-PCPY and AN, and is inversely related to styrene. 

Alternating copolymer—In these copolymers, the monomers are arranged in an alternate sequence. Alternating copolymers are produced by special copolymerization processes. 

The copolymerization occurs in an aqueous emulsion. When free radicals are used, a random copolymer is obtained. Alternating copolymers are produced when a Zieglar-Natta catalyst is employed. Molecular weight can be controlled by adding modifiers and inhibitors. When the polymerization reaches approximately 65%, the reaction mixture is vacuum distilled in presence of steam to recover the monomer. 

The only known instance of ring-opening polymerization with these compounds is also the only report on the successful polymerization of 2,5-dihydrofuran74 in which this compound was cationically copolymerized with epichlorhydrin (rx 0, r2 0), propylene oxide (r, 0, r2 0) and 3,3-bischloromethyl oxacyclobutane (/ ] 0, r2 = 1.6). It was shown that all the copolymers obtained possessed a certain degree of unsaturation which was attributed to the presence of open units from 2,5-dihydrofuran. Thus, for example the alternating copolymer with epichlorhydrin had the following structure (IR spectra, Cl content. C=C analysis) ... 

In this section wc consider systems where the radical formed by propagation can eyclizc to yield a new propagating radical. Certain 1,4-dicncs undergo cyclocopolymerization with suitable olefins. For example, divinyl ether and MAH are proposed to undergo alternating copolymerization as illustrated in Scheme 4.19.167 These cyclo-copolymerizations can he quantitative only for the case of a strictly alternating copolymer. This can be achieved with certain electron donor-electron acceptor pairs, for example divinyl ether-maleic anhydride. 

Random and Alternating Copolymers a) Mechanism and Kinetics of Copolymerization... 

Cationic copolymerization of other monomers which do not polymerize by themselves often yields alternating copolymers. Some examples are254,2SS) ... 

This feature of the interfacial preparation of poIy(iminocarbon-ates) has an important consequence for the synthesis of copolymers if the dicyanate component is structurally different from the diphenol, partial hydrolysis of the dicyanate will lead to the presence of two structurally different diphenol components that will compete for the reaction with the remaining dicyanate. The interfacial copolymerization will therefore result in a random copolymer. On the other hand, during solution polymerization no hydrolysis can occur. Since the dicyanates can only react with diphenols and vice versa, solution polymerization results in the formation of a strictly alternating copolymer. 

These copolymers are prepared by the solution free radical polymerization of the electron-poor monomer (substituted maleimide) and the electron-rich monomer (substituted styrene or vinyl ether). Predominantly alternating copolymers result from such polymerizations (IQ). We will report on this unique copolymerization that permits the copolymerization of two double bonds in the presence of a third reactive double bond elsewhere. 

Preference for reaction with the unlike monomer occurs when ri is less than 1. When r and T2 are approximately equal to 1, the conditions are said to be ideal, with a random (not alternating) copolymer produced, in accordance with the Wall equation. Thus, a random copolymer (ideal copolymer) would be produced when chlorotrifluoroethylene is copolymerized with tetrafluoroethylene (Table 7.1). 

When r and ri are both approximately zero, as in the case with the copolymerization of maleic anhydride and styrene, an alternating copolymer is produced (Equation 7.22). In general, there will be a tendency towards alternation when the product r ri approaches zero. 

The high electron richness of vinylferrocene as a monomer is illustrated in its copolymerization with maleic anhydride, where 1 1 alternation copolymers are formed over a wide range of monomer feed ratios and ri -2 = 0.003. Subsequently, a large number of detailed copolymerization studies have been undertaken using metal-containing vinyl monomers. 

It is highly unlikely that the reactivities of the various monomers would be such as to yield either block or alternating copolymes. The quantitative dependence of copolymer composition on monomer reactivities has been described [Korshak et al., 1976 Mackey et al., 1978 Russell et al., 1981]. The treatment is the same as that described in Chap. 6 for chain copolymerization (Secs. 6-2 and 6-5). The overall composition of the copolymer obtained in a step polymerization will almost always be the same as the composition of the monomer mixture since these reactions are carried out to essentially 100% conversion (a necessity for obtaining high-molecular-weight polymer). Further, for step copolymerizations of monomer mixtures such as in Eq. 2-192 one often observes the formation of random copolymers. This occurs either because there are no differences in the reactivities of the various monomers or the polymerization proceeds under reaction conditions where there is extensive interchange (Sec. 2-7c). The use of only one diacid or one diamine would produce a variation on the copolymer structure with either R = R" or R = R " [Jackson and Morris, 1988]. 

Some copolymerizations have been studied where one of the reactants is a compound not usually considered as a monomer. These include copolymerizations of epoxides and higher cyclic ethers with carbon dioxide, episulhdes with carbon dioxide and carbon disulhde, and epoxides with sulfur dioxide [Aida et al., 1986 Baran et al., 1984 Chisholm et al., 2002 Inoue and Aida, 1989 Soga et al., 1977]. The copolymers are reported to be either 1 1 alternating copolymers or contain 1 1 alternating sequences together with blocks of the cyclic monomer. 

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