Polymerization cyclic siloxanes

Anionic Polymerization of Cyclic Siloxanes. The anionic polymerization of cyclosiloxanes can be performed in the presence of a wide variety of strong bases such as hydroxides, alcoholates, or silanolates of alkaH metals (59,68). Commercially, the most important catalyst is potassium silanolate. The activity of the alkaH metal hydroxides increases in the foUowing sequence LiOH < NaOH < KOH < CsOH, which is also the order in which the degree of ionization of thein hydroxides increases (90). Another important class of catalysts is tetraalkyl ammonium, phosphonium hydroxides, and silanolates (91—93). These catalysts undergo thermal degradation when the polymer is heated above the temperature requited (typically >150°C) to decompose the catalyst, giving volatile products and the neutral, thermally stable polymer. 

Although each of these cyclic siloxane monomers can be polymerized separately to synthesize the respective homopolymers, in practice they are primarily used to modify and further improve some specific properties of polydimethylsiloxanes. The properties that can be changed or modified by the variations in the siloxane backbone include the low temperature flexibility (glass transition temperature, crystallization and melting behavior), thermal, oxidation, and radiation stability, solubility characteristics and chemical reactivity. Table 9 summarizes the effect of various substituents on the physical properties of resulting siloxane homopolymers. The... 

Orthosilicic acid at concentrations above 100 ppm in solution condenses to a dimer. At higher concentrations cyclic and polymeric species are formed (Her, 1979 Andersson, Dent Glasser Smith, 1982). These processes are ones where silanol groups condense to form siloxane linkages ... 

The initiation of the cyclic siloxane monomers with a living polymeric lithium species such as polystyryl lithium leads to block copolymers, as outlined in Scheme 2, were also of interest. These styrenic-siloxane block copolymers were prepared with siloxane contents from 10 to 50 weight percent. 

L-ascorbic acid and, 25 751 catalytic esterification of, 10 482 in cationic polymerization of cyclic siloxanes, 22 560 cellulose as, 11 266 a-chiral and homologated, 13 669 control methods for, 26 687-690 derived from halogen fluorides,... 

Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), 24 368, 391 Association phenomenon, in anionic polymerization of cyclic siloxanes, 22 559... 

Cationic polyelectrolytes, 20 469—472 Cationic polymerization, 19 835 20 409 living, 14 271-272 of cyclic siloxanes, 22 560 of higher olefin polymers, 20 425 Cationic polymers, 11 632 Cationic products, 9 193-194 Cationic PVA, 25 602... 

Protic acids, in cationic polymerization of cyclic siloxanes, 22 560 PROTO (-)-Protoemetine, 2 84, 85 Protonated ozone, 7 7 774-775 Protonated pyridines, 27 100-101 Protonation, 75 653-654... 

Chojnowski and co-workers have studied the polymerization of octamethyltetrasila-l,4-dioxane, a monomer more basic than cyclosiloxanes, which is capable of forming more stable oxonium ions, and thus being a useful model to study the role of silyloxonium ions.150-152 In recent work, these authors used Olah s initiating system and observed the formation of oxonium ion and its transformation to the corresponding tertiary silyloxonium ion at the chain ends.153 The 29Si NMR spectroscopic data and theoretical calculations were consistent with the postulated mechanism. Stannett and co-workers studied an unconventional process of radiation-initiated polymerization of cyclic siloxanes and proposed a mechanism involving the intermediate formation of silicenium ions solvated by the siloxane... 

Kress, J. D. Leung, P. G. Tawa, G. J. Hay, P. J. Calculation of a Reaction Path for KOH-Catalyzed Ring-Opening Polymerization of Cyclic Siloxanes. In Silicones and Silicone-Modified Materials Clarson, S. J., Fitzgerald, J. J., Owen, M. J., Smith, S. D., Eds. AGS Symposium Series 729 American Chemical Society Washington, DC, 2000 pp 81—97. 

Cypryk, M. Chojnowski, J. Kurjata, J. Tertiary Trisilyloxonium Ion and Silylenium Cation in Cationic Ring-opening Polymerization of Cyclic Siloxanes. In Organosilicon Chemistry VI From Molecules to Materials Auner, N., Weis, J., Eds. Wiley-VCH Weinheim, 2005 pp 85-92. 

Uses. As a catalyst in the polymerization of cyclic siloxanes for electrolytes in batteries... 

The range of monomers that can be incorporated into block copolymers by the living anionic route includes not only the carbon-carbon double-bond monomers susceptible to anionic polymerization but also certain cyclic monomers, such as ethylene oxide, propylene sulfide, lactams, lactones, and cyclic siloxanes (Chap. 7). Thus one can synthesize block copolymers involving each of the two types of monomers. Some of these combinations require an appropriate adjustment of the propagating center prior to the addition of the cyclic monomer. For example, carbanions from monomers such as styrene or methyl methacrylate are not sufficiently nucleophilic to polymerize lactones. The block copolymer with a lactone can be synthesized if one adds a small amount of ethylene oxide to the living polystyryl system to convert propagating centers to alkoxide ions prior to adding the lactone monomer. 

The commercial importance of polysiloxanes (silicone polymers) was discussed in Sec. 2-12f. The higher-MW polysiloxanes are synthesized by anionic or cationic polymerizations of cyclic siloxanes [Bostick, 1969 Kendrick et al., 1989 Noll, 1968 Saam, 1989 Wright, 1984]. The most commonly encountered polymerizations are those of the cyclic trimers and tetra-... 

The anionic polymerization of cyclic siloxanes can be initiated by alkali metal hydroxides, alkyls, and alkoxides, silanolates such as potassium trimethylsilanoate, (CH3)3SiOK, and other bases. Both initiation... 

AS is very rare for a polymerization process. The only other reported instances of positive AS values are those for the polymerizations of the cyclic octamers of sulfur and selenium and cyclic carbonate oligomers (Sec. 7-5c) [Brunelle et al., 1989]. All other polymerizations involve a decrease in entropy because of the decreased disorder for a polymer relative to its monomer. The positive AS values for the cyclic siloxane, S, and Se probably result from the high degree of flexibility of the linear polymer chains due to the large-sized atoms that they contain. This flexibility leads to greater degrees of freedom in the linear polymer compared to the cyclic monomer. 

Bostick, E.E., Cyclic Siloxanes and Silazanes, Chap. 8 mRing-Opening Polymerization, K. C. Frisch and S. L. Reegen, eds., Marcel Dekker, New York, 1969. 

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