Free radical chain polymerization steps

What is the limiting step in free radical chain polymerization ... 

Free Radical Chain Polymerization Going One Step Better ... 

Comparison of the Two Reactions Step-Growth Polymerization in More Detail Making PET in the Melt Interfacial Poly condensation Chain-Growth Polymerization in More Detail Free Radical Chain Polymerization Going One Step Better Emulsion Polymerization Copolymerization Ionic Chain Polymerization It Lives ... 

Hjerten et al. [124] introduced the monolithic stationary phases based on acrylamides in the late 1980s. The cross-linked polyacrylamide can be directly synthesized within the mold by a one step free-radical chain polymerization. Acrylamide, methacrylamide, or piperazine diacrylamide are often employed as monomers, while V,A -methylene-bis-acrylamide is used as a cross-linker. 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulphonic acid, vinylsulphonic acid, butyl methacrylate, or stearoyl methacrylate are usually added to the polymerization mixture to provide charge and functional groups [114]. 

The second step of initiation [Eq. (8.83)], being slower than the first [Eq. (8.82)], is rate-determining for initiation (unlike in the case of free-radical chain polymerization) and so though the amide ion produced upon chain transfer to ammonia can initiate polymerization it is but only at a rate controlled by the rate constant, ki, for initiation. Therefore, this chain transfer reaction may be considered as a true kinetic-chain termination step and the application of steady-state condition gives Eq. (8.90). 

Free-Radical Chain Polymerization. In contrast to the typically slow stepwise polymerizations, chain reaction polymerizations are usually rapid with the initiated species rapidly propagating until termination. A kinetic chain reaction usually consists of at least three steps, namely, initiation, propagation, and termination. The initiator may be an anion, cation, free radical, or coordination catalyst. 

Figure 1.2 Variation of molecular weight with conversion in (a) step polymerization, (b) free-radical chain polymerization, and (c) ionic chain polymerization.. (Adapted from Odian, 1991.)...

Though resembling free-radical chain polymerization in terms of initiation, propagation, transfer, and termination steps, ionic polymerizations have signif-... 

Chain reactions also occur in the liquid phase, and many synthetic polymers are produced by free-radical chain polymerizations. The initiation step is the decomposition of an added initiator, an unstable molecule such as a peroxide or persulfate ... 

Monomers containing rings or double bonds can be polymerized by chain polymerization, which is also known as addition polymerization. (It should be contrasted with Step polymerization.) The chain reaction involves the sequential steps of initiation, propagation and termination. Initiation is the process by which active centres are formed these may be free radicals, anions or cations. The free radical chain polymerization of a vinyl monomer is illustrated below. 

At the high pressures involved, the polymerization step is very rapid. The polymerization process can be described by the classic kinetic description of free radical (chain) polymerization. 

Free radical chain growth polymerization takes place through three distinct chemical steps. These are shown in Fig. 1. 

Redistribution is a free-radical chain reaction that does not consume oxygen or change the overall degree of polymerization. However, the net result of redistribution between polymeric phenols to form a monomeric phenol or phenoxy radical, followed by coupling of the monomer as in reaction (5) is the same as if two polymer molecules combined in a single step. 

A case classically associated with radical chain polymerization for which a (pseudo)steady state is assumed for the concentration of active centers this condition is attained when the termination rate equals the initiation rate (the free-radical concentration is kept at a very low value due to the high value of the specific rate constant of the termination step). The propagation rate, is very much faster than the termination rate, so that long chains are produced from the beginning of the polymerization. For linear chains, the polydispersity of the polymer fraction varies between 1.5 and 2. 

We turn our attention now to chain-growth polymerizations. The reader should recall that the Features which distinguish chain-growth and step-growth polymerizations were summarized in Section 5.2. The present chapter is devoted to the basic principles of chain polymerizations in which the active centers are free radicals. Chain-growth reactions with active centers having ionic character are reviewed in Chapter 9. 

Free-radical polymerization is the most widely used process for polymer synthesis. It is much less sensitive to the effects of adventitious impurities than ionic chain-growth reactions. Free-radical polymerizations are usually much faster than those in step-growth syntheses, which use diFFereiit monomers in any case. Chapter 7 covers emulsion polymerization, which is a special technique of free-radical chain-growth polymerizations. Copolymerizalions are considered separately in Chapter 8. This chapter focuses on the polymerization reactions in which only one monomer is involved. 

Both the monomer and polymer are soluble in the solvent in these reactions. Fairly high polymer concentrations can be obtained by judicious choice of solvent. Solution processes are used in the production of c(5-polybutadiene with butyl lithium catalyst in hexane solvent (Section 9.2.7). The cationic polymerization of isobutene in methyl chloride (Section 9.4.4) is initiated as a homogeneous reaction, but the polymer precipitates as it is formed. Diluents are necessary in these reactions to control the ionic polymerizations. Their use is avoided where possible in free-radical chain growth or in step-growth polymerizations because of the added costs involved in handling and recovering the solvents. 

Copolymers can be made not just from two different monomers but from three, four, or even more. They can be made not only by free-radical chain reactions, but by any of the polymerization methods we shall take up ionic, coordination, or step-reaction. The monomer units may be distributed in various ways, depending on the technique used. As we have seen, they may alternate along a chain, either randomly or with varying degrees of regularity. In block copolymers sections made up of one monomer alternate with sections of another ... 

The disproportionation reaction of the free radical chain can generate the monomer as a successive process. There are, however, some other issues regarding the propagation for free radical chain reactions. In addition to the "regular" propagation step, different reactions may occur in a so-called transfer step. In this step, the free radical chain reacts with another molecule and generates a different radical chain and a new polymeric molecule. There are two possible types of transfer reactions. The transfer step can be an intermolecular chain transfer or an intramolecular chain transfer. An example of an intermolecular chain transfer is... 

Propagation is the second step in the free radical chain reaction. This step leads to new radicals but also to the formation of small stable molecules. Because the stability of a long chain free radical is usually higher than that of a small free radical, if small radicals are formed in the first step, they usually react with the polymer, forming polymeric chain radicals and small molecules. This type of propagation is known as radical transfer reaction. Using the notation Pn for the polymer and Rn for the polymeric radical, the radical transfer reactions can be indicated as follows ... 

In addition polymerization, monomers react to form a polymer chain without net loss of atoms. The most common type of addition polymerization involves the free-radical chain reaction of molecules that have C = C bonds. As in the chain reactions considered in Section 18.4, the overall process consists of three steps initiation, propagation (repeated many times to build up a long chain), and termination. As an example, consider the polymerization of vinyl chloride (chloro-ethene, CH2 = CHC1) to polyvinyl chloride (Fig. 23.1). This process can be initiated by a small concentration of molecules that have bonds weak enough to be broken by the action of light or heat, giving radicals. An example of such an initiator is a peroxide, which can be represented as R—O—O—R, where R and R represent alkyl groups. The weak 0—0 bonds break... 

The most important free-radical chain reaction conducted in industry is the free-radical polymerization of ethylene to give polyethylene. Industrial processes usually use (/-Bu())2 as the initiator. The t-BuO- radical adds to ethylene to give the beginning of a polymer chain. The propagation part has only one step the addition of an alkyl radical at the end of a growing polymer to ethylene to give a new alkyl radical at the end of a longer polymer. The termination steps are the usual radical-radical combination and disproportionation reactions. 

The kinetics of emulsion polymerization is complex, involving a large number of species and at least two phases. The first quantitative approach to emulsion polymerization kinetics led to extensions by many others.The important events to consider are 1) the free-radical reactions of chain formation initiation, propagation, chain transfer, and termination and 2) the phase transfer events that control particle formation radical entry into particles from the aqueous phase, radical exit into the aqueous phase, radical entry into micelles, and the aqueous phase coil-globule transition. In free-radical emulsion polymerization, the fundamental steps are shown schematically in Fig. 1... 

Addition polymerization takes place for unsaturated monomers. In the presence of a catalyst, such as a free radical, a pi bond in the monomer is disturbed, and the resulting molecule is. itself, a chemically active free radical. This first step of the process is called initiation. The process may then continue, with the new molecule bonding with additional monomers in the same manner, thus forming a chain. Following this propagation step, free radicals may combine, thus forming a more stable polymer chain. This final step is called termination. Peroxides, such as benzoyl peroxide, are common agents that, when heat is applied, form free radicals that can initiate the polymerization process. An example of addition polymerization is shown below for the monomer vinyl chloride, which forms polyvinyl chloride. 

Radical chain polymerization, as noted above, is a chain reaction consisting of a sequence of three steps—initiation, propagation, and termination. The initiation step is considered to involve two reactions. The first is the production of free radicals. There are many ways to accomplish this, but the most common method involves the use of a thermolabile compound, called an initiator (or catalyst), which decomposes to yield free radicals. The usual case is the homolytic dissociation of an initiator I to yield a pair of radicals R-... 

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