Formaldehyde, poly condensation with phenols

Some polymers containing heterocycles can be included in resins following further condensation. This is possible, for example, for poly(furfuryl alcohol), which can condense with formaldehyde, phenol, melamine and urea. Furfuryl alcohol-formaldehyde copolymer can be synthesized in the reaction of furfuryl alcohol with formaldehyde in the presence of oxalic acid as catalyst. 

Similar poly-condensation reactions can be carried out also with oxy-acids, amines and acids, urea or phenol and formaldehyde, etc. they yield in part chain and in part reticulate products, which have been discussed, particularly by W. H. Carothers and his collaborators. A more detailed description of such products will be given in another volume of this series (comp, also vol. I). The mechanism of such processes will likewise be discussed more extensively in another volume. 

In the development of a reactive non-chrome post-treatment, a variety of phenolic resins were synthesized and commercial phenolic resins evaluated. It was found that phenol-formaldehyde resins, creso1-forma1dehyd e condensates, ortho-novo 1 ak resins, and phenol-formaldehyde emulsions gave positive results when employed as post-treatments over zinc and iron phosphate conversion coatings. The above materials all possessed drawbacks. The materials in general have poor water solubility at low concentrations used in post-treatment applications and had to be dried and baked in place in order to obtain good performance. The best results were obtained with poly-4-vinylphenol and derivatives thereof as shown in the following structure (8,9,10)... 

A suggestion was made to name condensation polymers synthesized from two different monomers by following the prefix poly with parentheses enclosing the names of the two reactants, with the names of the reactants separated by the term -co-. Thus, the polymer in Eq. 1-7 would be named poly(phenol-co-formaldehyde). This suggestion did not gain acceptance. 

The telechelica,(i -bis(2,6-dimethylphenol)-poly(2,6-dimethylphenyl-ene oxide) (PP0-20H) [174-182] is of interest as a precursor in the synthesis of block copolymers [175] and thermally reactive oligomers [179]. The synthesis has been accomplished by five methods. The first synthetic method was the reaction of a low molecular weight PPO with one phenol chain end with 3,3, 5,5 -tetramethyl-l,4-diphenoquinone. This reaction occurred by a radical mechanism [174]. The second method was the electrophilic condensation of the phenyl chain ends of two PPO-OH molecules with formaldehyde [177,178], The third method consists of the oxidative copolymerization of 2,6-dimethylphenol with 2,2 -di(4-hydroxy-3,5-di-methylphenyl)propane [176-178]. This reaction proceeds by a radical mechanism. A fourth method was the phase transfer-catalyzed polymerization of 4-bromo-2,6-dimethylphenol in the presence of 2,2-di(4-hy-droxy-3,5-dimethylphenyl)propane [181]. This reaction proceeded by a radical-anion mechanism. The fifth method developed was the oxidative coupling polymerization of 2,6-dimethylphenol (DMP) in the presence of tetramethyl bisphenol-A (TMBPA) [Eq. (57)] [182],... 

As with condensation polymers many examples of biochemically formed vinyl addition polymers, such as the poly-cis-isoprene found in the sap of rubber trees, were known long before we were able to replicate these materials even in the laboratory. Our ability to initiate and control the preparation of vinylic polymers on a laboratory scale came in the early 1930s, substantially later than the commercialization of phenol-formaldehyde condensation polymers. Since then, however, starting with the synthesis of polyethylene, then poly(vi-nyl chloride) (PVC), synthetic rubbers and polystyrene, the scale of production of this class of polymer has outstripped the polycondensation class by more than an order of magnitude. Table 23.1 displays some representative production figures to illustrate this. 

Copolymers of Poly(vinyl alcohol) with Formaldehyde and Hydro-qulnone. These electron-exchange resins are condensation prodncts of partially cyanoethylated poly(vinyl alcohol) and have a weak acidic natin-e and lustrous black appearance. The polar groups of acrylonitrile improve the redox capacities over a standard weak-acid electron exchanger, hydroqninone-phenol-formaldehyde (161). 

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