Ethylenes, olefin alternating copolymers

Alternating copolymers of ethylene with olefins containing double bonds in the cis configuration, like ds-2-butene, cyclopentene, cycloheptene,115 and norbomene,116 have been described. Recently also copolymers of carbon monoxide with styrene and styrene derivatives, having syndiotactic117 and isotactic118 configurations, have been synthesized and characterized. 

The rates and orientation of free radical additions to fluoroalkenes depend upon the nature of the attacking radical and the alkene, but polar effects again are important For instance, methyl radical adds 9 5 times faster to tetrafluoroethylene than to ethylene at 164 °C, but the tnfluoromethyl radical adds 10 times taster to ethylene [7551 The more favorable polar transition states combine the nucleophilic radical with the electron deficient olefin 17 and vice versa (18) These polar effects account for the tendency of perfluoroalkenes and alkenes to produce highly regular, alternating copolymers (see Chapter starting on page 1101)... 

Preferred olefins in the polymerisation are one or more of ethylene, propylene, 1-butene, 2-butene, 1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-pentene, 1-tetradecene, norbornene and cyclopentene, with ethylene, propylene and cyclopentene. Other monomers that may be used with these catalysts (when it is a Pd(II) complex) to form copolymers with olefins and selected cycloolefins are carbon monoxide (CO) and vinyl ketones of the general formula H2C=CHC(0)R. Carbon monoxide forms alternating copolymers with the various olefins and cycloolefins. 

In later communications (27, 28) Hirooka reported that in addition to acrylonitrile, other conjugated monomers such as methyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate formed active complexes with organoaluminum halides, and the latter yielded high molecular weight 1 1 alternating copolymers with styrene and ethylene. However, an unconjugated monomer such as vinyl acetate failed to copolymerize with olefins by this technique. 

Radiation induced copolymerization of hexafluoroacetone xcith a-olefins has been done over a broad temperature range. From these experiments, it was confirmed that ethylene can be copolymerized below its critical temperature to give an alternating copolymer. A radical mechanism is involved at relatively high temperatures below —10°C, the mechanism has been confirmed to be ionic and may be cationic. Propylene can be copolymerized in a way similar to that of ethylene however, the rate of copolymerization was much slower. Isobutylene did not copolymerize with hexafluoroacetone at 0°C. A 1 2 adduct compound was obtained as the main product. At low temperatures, copolymerization proceeds to some extent. 

The copolymerization of ethylene and carbon monoxide to give alternating copolymers has attracted considerable interest in both academia and industry over recent decades [1, 2]. Attention was focused on aliphatic polyketones such as poly(3-oxotrimethylene) (1) because of the low cost and plentiful availability of the simple monomers. The new family of thermoplastic, perfectly alternating olefin/ carbon monoxide polymers commercialized by Shell provides a superior balance of performance properties not found in other commercial materials the an ethylene/ propene/CO terpolymer is marketed by Shell imder the tradename Carilon . About the history of polyketones see Refs. [3-11],... 

The 1,2-disubstituted olefmic monomers will usually not homopolymerize with the Ziegler-Natta catalysts. They can, however, be copolymerized with ethylene and some a-olefins. Due to poorer reactivity, the monomer feed must consist of higher ratios of the 1,2-disubstituted olefins than of the other comonomers. Copolymers of cw-2-butene with ethylene, where portions of the macromolecules are crystalline, form with vanadium-based catalysts. The products have alternating structures, with the pendant methyl groups in erythrodiisotactic arrangements. Similarly, vanadium-based catalysts yield alternating copolymers of ethylene and butadiene, where the butadiene placement is predominantly rm/w-1,4. ... 

Influences due to steric hindrance are mostly swamped by those due to polarity and resonance stabilization. For example, 1,2-disubstituted ethylene monomers form random copolymers with comonomers of similar polarity, i.e., dimethyl fumarate/vinyl chloride. If the polarities differ greatly, even alternating copolymers can be formed because of the formation of CT complexes, as, for example, with maleic anhydride/styrene (see also Section 22.3). Even two 1,2-disubstituted monomers copolymerize with each other if the polarities differ very greatly, as happens with, for example, maleic anhydride and stilbene, since the polar interaction in the transition state helps to overcome the steric hindrance. Threefold substituted olefins produce an additional stabilization without steric hindrance in the transition state, and so can be easily copolymerized with comomoners of opposite polarity. 

The insertion of ethylene and a-olefins into acyl groups is one step of the remarkably selective copolymerization of alkenes and CO to form an alternating copolymer. This process was developed at Shell Chemicals and is discussed in Chapter 17. As depicted in Scheme 9.10, the relative rates for insertion of an alkene into an alkyl group and an acyl group are one factor that controls the selectivity. For high selectivity, the insertion of ethylene into the acyl group must be faster than insertion of ethylene into an alkyl group. ... 

There has been a slight increase in activity in this area compared with that in the previous two year period. For the polymeric esters of acrylic, methacrylic acids, and related polymers the simplest reaction, apart from thermal depolymerization, is hydrolysis, and one or two papers on this subject have appeared. One of these concerns a comparison of the kinetics of hydrolysis of a number of methacrylate esters and a further two deal with the formation of copolymers containing carboxylic acid functions. Methyl trifluoroacrylate forms alternating copolymers with cE-olefins (ethylene, propylene, isobutylene) and these are readily hydrolysed in boiling aqueous methanolic sodium hydroxide to yield hydrophilic fluoropolymers. Hydrolysis is reported to be nearly quantitative with no chain scission. An alternating copolymer is also formed by radical polymerization of maleic anhydride with A-vinyl succinimide. On hydrolysis this copolymer is... 

Modifications to the Ziegler-Natta catalyst system have led to the preparation of alternating copolymers from olefins, such as ethylene and propylene, and diolefins, such as butadiene and isoprene. In typical systems (Furukawa 1972, 1974a, b) the catalyst is prepared at very low temperatures (-70°C or below) from three components a... 

Recently we developed catalyst systems, a combination of the Ti complexes having 2,2 -thiobis(4-methyl-6- t-butyl-phenoxy) (TBP) group and MAO, which are specifically active toward styrene, giving syndiotactic polymer and also active toward olefins. In the present work we found that these catalyst systems can copolymerize styrene with ethylene, giving highly alternating ethylene-styrene (ES) copolymer. This paper deals with the results of styrene... 

Bis(phenoxyimine) titanium complexes have also been employed in the living copolymerization of ethylene/cyclic olefins and ethylene/l,5-hexadiene. Utilizing 31/MAO and varying ethylene pressure, a series of poly(E-co-CP)s with different cyclopentene contents were prepared (Fujita and Coates, 2002). When ethylene pressure was low (<1 psi), an almost perfectly alternating copolymer was formed (Mn = 21000 g/mol, Mw/Mn = 1.34, T = 10.1 C). However, the use of higher ethylene pressures (3 psi) resulted in the formation of a random copolymer containing 36 mol% cyclopentene (M = 133000g/mol,Mw/Mn = 1.24, T =—A.S°C). Tri- and multiblock copolymers were synthesized in which the constituent blocks differed in their cyclopentene content. 

Randomly incorporated ethylene introduces defects along the backbone. These defects dismpt crystallization, reducing the modulus, melting point, and heat of fusion. The incorporation of random ethylene also reduces haze. Butene has also been used as a comonomer in PP. With the development of metallocene catalysts, even higher a-olefins such as hexene could be incorporated. While these alternative copolymers are now technically feasible, they have not seen commercial... 

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