Gegenions

The reaction medium plays a very important role in all ionic polymerizations. Likewise, the nature of the ionic partner to the active center-called the counterion or gegenion-has a large effect also. This is true because the nature of the counterion, the polarity of the solvent, and the possibility of specific solvent-ion interactions determines the average distance of separation between the ions in solution. It is not difficult to visualize a whole spectrum of possibilities, from completely separated ions to an ion pair of partially solvated ions to an ion pair of unsolvated ions. The distance between the centers of the ions is different in... 

The P-halo ketone intermediates formed in the foregoing reactions arise from the capture of carbocationic intermediates by halide of the gegenions. In some cases, solvents such as acetonitrile can act as the competing nucleophilic species. For example, P-amido ketones could be obtained by the acylation of alkenes in acetonitrile (172). 

I initiation C — cationization P propagation T — termination TM — transfer to monomer TG — transfer to gegenion... 

Quinoxaline (see Section 2.1.3) and many of its derivatives may be converted into A-alkylquimoxalinium or even A,A -dialkylquinoxalinediium salts by treatment with alkyl halides or the like. Occasionally, when the molecule bears a suitable acidic grouping, it may be possible to deprive the quaternary salt of its gegenion by treatment with a base to form an ylide (in which a carbon atom of the molecule bears the negative charge) or other zwitterionic entity, such as a quinoxaliniumolate. 

Carbocations are intermediates in several kinds of reactions. The more stable ones have been prepared in solution and in some cases even as solid salts, and X-ray crystallographic structures have been obtained in some cases. An isolable dioxa-stabilized pentadienylium ion was isolated and its structure was determined by h, C NMR, mass spectrometry (MS), and IR. A P-fluoro substituted 4-methoxy-phenethyl cation has been observed directly by laser flash photolysis. In solution, the carbocation may be free (this is more likely in polar solvents, in which it is solvated) or it may exist as an ion pair, which means that it is closely associated with a negative ion, called a counterion or gegenion. Ion pairs are more likely in nonpolar solvents. 

Small counterions (gegenions) ensure electroneutrality. For example, the sodium salt of polyacrylic acid is ionized in solution to form polyanions and the corresponding number of sodium cations ... 

The simplest example of carbenium ion is CH which is so unstable that it is rarely formed even in gaseous phase. The more stable ones have been prepared in solution and in some cases even in the solid state. When in solutions they are formed in polar solvents where they get solvated. They may also be associated with a negative ion called gegenion. The ion pairs are formed in non polar solvents. 

The e.s.r. spectra of phosphorus compounds have been reviewed.101 The phosphorus hyperfine splitting (ap 33.5 G) of the radical anion (77) is within the 25—36 G range of phosphorin radical anions.102 The cis- and fra/w-isomers of 1,2-bisdiphenylphos-phinoethylene gave the same radical anion (78). The unpaired electron is coupled to all the protons in the molecule as well as to the two phosphorus atoms, and shows that the electron is completely delocalized. Only when caesium was used as the gegenion in THF could a metal interaction be detected. The spectrum in this case corresponded to the association of two caesium ions with the radical anion, the third... 

The first species produced in cationic polymerizations are carbocations, and these were unknown as such prior to World War II. It is now known that pure Lewis acids, such as boron trifluoride and aluminum chloride, are not effective as initiators. A trace of a proton-containing Lewis base, such as water, is also required. The Lewis base coordinates with the electrophilic Lewis acid, and the proton is the actual initiator. Since cations cannot exist alone, they are accompanied by a counterion, also called a gegenion. 

Both the initiation step and the propagation step are dependent on the stability of the carbocations. Isobutylene (the first monomer to be commercially polymerized by ionic initiators), vinyl ethers, and styrene have been polymerized by this technique. The order of activity for olefins is Me2C=CH2 > MeCH=CH2 > CH2=CH2, and for para-substituted styrenes the order for the substituents is Me—O > Me > H > Cl. The mechanism is also dependent on the solvent as well as the electrophilicity of the monomer and the nucleophi-licity of the gegenion. Rearrangements may occur in ionic polymerizations. 

The termination rate Rt, assumed to be a first-order process, is simply the dissociation of the macrocarbocation-gegenion complex here forming BF3 and H2O and the now neutral dead polymer chain. This is expressed as follows ... 

It is important to note that regardless of how termination occurs, the molecular weight is independent of the concentration of the initiator. However, the rate of ionic chain polymerization is dependent on the dielectric constant of the solvent, the resonance stability of the carbonium ion, the stability of the gegenion, and the electropositivity of the initiator. 

Polymer production proceeds as described in structure 5.25. An initiator, such as sulfuric acid, produces an oxonium ion and a gegenion. The oxonium ion then adds to the oxirane, ethylene oxide, producing a macrooxonium ion with growth eventually terminated by chain transfer with water. 

All discussed Ksem s are related to the separately solvated members of a two step redox system. In solvents of low polarity the charged forms may form ion pairs. Especially prone to this association are anionic redox systems of Type C (RED + OX = 2 SEM ) since the often used gegenions K , Na and Li tend to form ion pairs with the anions. These exhibit special UV/VIS-, NMR- and ESR-spectra as well as g-values Dimeres of the type (SEM M )2 may also be formed, as demonstrated with the anion radicals of pyrazines ° heptafulvalene and tetracyano-quinodimethanes. Corresponding associations are reported for dian-... 

This past decade has seen numerous controversial studies regarding electrical conduction of DNA. Some reported high conductivity [115, 116, 118] with Crt of at most lO" S cm [115] or even superconducting properties [119], while others claimed that the carefully deionized DNA molecules are insulating [117, 120] in agreement with the old reports [121, 122] with ctri- less than 10 S cm. The controversy seems to have settled on a wide consensus that, apart from ionic conduction by the sodium gegenions, double-stranded DNA is an electrical insulator. 

In order to explain the field effects observed for the cationic polymerizations, we have earlier proposed a kinetic scheme based on the two-state polymerization mechanism and on the field-facilitated dissociation hypothesis (11). Though the assumptions involved in the proposed interpretation turn out to be partly invalid in the light of the experimental data accumulated most recently (15), it is still necessary to give an outline of the scheme. We assumed that, by the initiation reaction between initiator molecules (C) and monomer molecules (M), active species of an ion-pair type (My) are produced, a portion of which dissociates into active species of a free ion type (Mf) and gegenions (C ). The propagation, monomer transfer and termination can be effected by the free ions and ion pairs. A dissociation equilibrium is established between the free ions and ion pairs, which can be characterized by a dissociation constant K. Then we have ... 

Figure 9 gives the apparent rate constants of propagation (kp) as a function of the inverse square root of the living end concentration with and without an electric field for styrene with Li+ gegenions in binary... 

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