Copolymerization of olefins

A polysulfone is characterized by the presence of the sulfone group as part of its repeating unit. Polysulfones may be aUphatic or aromatic. AUphatic polysulfones (R and are alkyl groups) were synthesized by radical-induced copolymerization of olefins and sulfur dioxide and characterized many years ago. However, they never demonstrated significant practical utiUty due to their relatively unattractive physical properties, not withstanding the low cost of their raw materials (1,2). The polysulfones discussed in this article are those based on an aromatic backbone stmcture. The term polysulfones is used almost exclusively to denote aromatic polysulfones. 

Palladium(II) complexes possessing bidentate ligands are known to efficiently catalyze the copolymerization of olefins with carbon monoxide to form polyketones.594-596 Sulfur dioxide is an attractive monomer for catalytic copolymerizations with olefins since S02, like CO, is known to undergo facile insertion reactions into a variety of transition metal-alkyl bonds. Indeed, Drent has patented alternating copolymerization of ethylene with S02 using various palladium(II) complexes.597 In 1998, Sen and coworkers also reported that [(dppp)PdMe(NCMe)]BF4 was an effective catalyst for the copolymerization of S02 with ethylene, propylene, and cyclopentene.598 There is a report of the insertion reactions of S02 into PdII-methyl bonds and the attempted spectroscopic detection of the copolymerization of ethylene and S02.599... 

Late Transition Metal Catalysts for the Copolymerization of Olefins and Polar Monomers... 

There have also been several papers [61-63] on the importance of carefully establishing the reaction mechanism when attempting the copolymerization of olefins with polar monomers since many transition metal complexes can spawn active free radical species, especially in the presence of traces of moisture. The minimum controls that need to be carried out are to run the copolymerization in the presence of various radical traps (but this is not always sufficient) to attempt to exclude free radical pathways, and secondly to apply solvent extraction techniques to the polymer formed to determine if it is truly a copolymer or a blend of different polymers and copolymers. Indeed, even in the Drent paper [48], buried in the supplementary material, is described how the true transition metal-catalyzed random copolymer had to be freed of acrylate homopolymer (free radical-derived) by solvent extraction prior to analysis. 

Pasquon, I., A. Valvassori, and G. Sartori, The Copolymerization of Olefins by Ziegler-Natta Catalysts, Chap. 4 in Stereochemistry of Macromolecules, Vol. 1, A. D. Ketley, ed., Marcel Dekker, New York, 1967. 

Alternating Copolymerization of Olefins with CO catalysed by palladium complexes generated from the sulfonated ligands 29 (Table 2 x=3 m=0,l n=0) and 108 (Table 6) in aqueous media263 or from 20 (Table 2 n=0 R=H acid-form) and 21 (Table 2 R=Ph n=2,3 acid-form) in methanol.335... 

Another group of potentially large volume plastics that is under development are the polysulfone resins, made by the copolymerization of olefins such as 1-butene with sulfur dioxide 24). Both these feed stocks could be derived in abundant quantities and at relatively low costs from petroleum sources. The polysulfone resins are moldable thermoplastic polymers having physical properties that vary widely depending on the olefin from which they are prepared. They are considered to have excellent prospects for development to a large volume, low cost commercial plastic and may permit the entrance of plastic products into other fields in which they are now limited by the high cost and inadequate supply of present thermoplastic materials. 

The kinetic technique was extensively used by Dainton and his associates (3, 4) particularly in their studies of the copolymerization of olefins with sulfur dioxide to 1 1 polysulfones. To check their results, they compared the heats of polymerization calculated from the ceiling... 

The radical initiated copolymerization of olefins with CO in the presence of an... 

Ashikari, N. Polymerization and copolymerization of olefins with trialkyl-boron catalysts. J. Polymer Sci. 28, 250—252 (1958). 

So far, theoretically, there have been two possible approaches for the synthesis of functional polyolefins, namely, (a) direct copolymerization of olefins with functional monomers using polymerization and catalyst technologies, and (b) post-polymerization reaction with polyolefins. 

The first approach has found limited applications. Concerning the direct copolymerization of olefins with functional monomers, studies of copolymerization of olefins by metallocene catalysts have been reported with functional... 

In this article, we would like to review recent advances in polymer hybrids based on polyolefins and to classify them into four methodologies, namely, PO macroinitiator, PO macromonomer, reactive PO and living copolymerization of olefins, with their well-defined structures and applications. 

The concept of PO macroinitiators centers on the introduction of an initiation moiety into an olefinic polymer chain for polymerization. The most effective route for preparing PO macroinitiators is by employing functional polyolefins containing hydroxyl groups or other reactive groups. These functional POs are prepared by copolymerization of olefins with functional monomers and post-polymerization reaction, as mentioned above. In the case where an initiation moiety was at the chain-end of the polyolefins, a block type copolymer is produced. It has been reported that thiol-terminated PP was used as polymeric chain transfer agent in styrene and styrene/acrylonitrile polymerization to form polypropylene-b/odc-polystyrene (PP-b-PS) and polypropylene-btock-poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (PP-b-SAN) block copolymer [19]. On the other hand, polymer hybrids with block and graft structures can be produced if initiation moieties are in the polymer chain. 

Controlled radical polymerization (CRP) is an attractive tool, because of the resultant controllability of polymerization, and because of it being a versatile method to synthesize of well-defined polymer hybrids. The three main radical polymerization techniques, ATRP, NMP, and RAFT polymerization, have thus been employed. Other techniques, such as the oxidation of borane groups, have also been studied. In general, using CRP techniques, block copolymers can be synthesized from terminally functionalized PO as PO macroinitiator, and block copolymers can be prepared from functionalized PO produced by the copolymerization of olefins with functional monomers. 

Block copolymers can be produced from terminally borane-containing polyolefins. These borane-containing POs can be synthesized by the metallocene-catalyzed (co)polymerization of olefin(s) monomer with 9-BBN as a chain transfer agent or by the metallocene catalyzed copolymerization of olefins with allyl-9-BBN [55,56], as referred to above. Alternatively, borane-containing POs were prepared by hydroboration of terminally unsaturated PO, for instance, terminally vinyl PE and terminally vinylidene PP [33-35,57]. Such method could produce diblock copolymers, such as polyethylene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PE-fo-PMMA), polypropylene-foZock-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PP-fc-PMMA), polypropylene-foZock-poly(butyl methacrylate) (PP-fc-PBMA), and PP-fc-PS. 

In addition, borane-containing POs can be prepared by copolymerization of olefin with borane monomers or by hydroboration of polyolefins including unsaturated groups, such as olefin-divinylbenzene copolymer and olefin-diene copolymers. Many kinds of graft copolymers, such as poly-elhylene-gra/f-poly( vinyl alcohol), PE-g-PMMA, polypropylcnc-gra/f-poly-(maleicanhydride-co-styrene), polypropylene-gra/f-poly(methacrylic acid), polypropylene-gra/f-poly(vinyl alcohol), polypropylene-gra/f-polycaprolac-tone (PP-g-PCL), polypropylcnc-gra/f-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PP-g-PMMA), poly( ethylene-co-propylene)-gra/f-poly(methyl methacrylate) (EPR-g-PMMA), and poly(ethylene-co-propylene)-gra/f-poly(maleic anhydride-costyrene), have been synthesized by such a method resulting in controllable composition and molecular microstructures [63-66]. 

To synthesize graft copolymers by ATRP, the initiation site for living radical polymerization can be incorporated into the polymer chain. In general, copolymerization of olefins with functional monomers can be adopted for syntheses of PO macroinitiators. 

A pure monomolecular initiation system would be more appropriate for the synthesis of graft copolymers. For the copolymerization of olefins with... 

Controlled block copolymerization of olefins with polar monomers was performed with a lanthanide complex by the successive polymerization of hexene (or pentene) and methylmethacrylate (or caprolactone). Polyhexene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate), polyhcxcnc-fo/ock-polycaprolactone, poly-pentene-fc/ock-poly(methyl methacrylate), and polypentene-Wock-polycapro-lactone were synthesized using a lanthanide complex as initiator [140-143]. 

Another possibility in the functionalization of polyolefins results from the copolymerization of olefins with boran monomers. Chung and Rhubrigut... 

Hirooka has proposed that the products are alternating copolymers produced through complex copolymerization and that the latter process differs from that of Imoto and Otsu (30, 33, 34) in which a free radical initiator is necessary for the random copolymerization of olefins with acrylonitrile or methyl methacrylate in the presence of zinc chloride. 

Polymerization and Copolymerization of Olefins on Chromium Oxide Catalysts... 

Qince the discovery (6) of supported chromium oxide catalysts for polymerization and copolymerization of olefins, many fundamental studies of these systems have been reported. Early studies by Topchiev et al. (18) deal with the effects of catalyst and reaction variables on the over-all kinetics. More recent studies stress the nature of the catalytically active species (1, 2, 9,13, 14,16, 19). Using ESR techniques, evidence is developed which indicates that the active species are Cr ions in tetrahedral environment. Other recent work presents a more detailed look at the reaction kinetics. For example, Yermakov and co-workers (12) provide evidence which suggests that chain termination in the polymerization of ethylene on the catalyst surface takes place predominantly by transfer with monomer, and Clark and Bailey (3, 4) give evidence that chain growth occurs through a Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. 

---