Hyperbranched polymers generations

Our theoretical studies [38] showed that the hyperbranched polymers generated from an SCVP possess a very wide MWD which depends on the reactivity ratio of propagating and initiating groups, r=kjk. For r=l, the polydispersity index where P is the number-average degree of polymerization. 

Yan, D. Zhou, Z. Muller, A. Molecular weight distribution of hyperbranched polymers generated by self-condensing vinyl polymerization in the presence of a multifunctional initiator. Macromolecules 1999, 32, 245. 

Hyperbranched polymers have also been prepared via living anionic polymerization. The reaction of poly(4-methylstyrene)-fo-polystyrene lithium with a small amount of divinylbenzene, afforded a star-block copolymer with 4-methylstyrene units in the periphery [200]. The methyl groups were subsequently metalated with s-butyllithium/tetramethylethylenediamine. The produced anions initiated the polymerization of a-methylstyrene (Scheme 109). From the radius of gyration to hydrodynamic radius ratio (0.96-1.1) it was concluded that the second generation polymers behaved like soft spheres. 

In the case of classic chemical kinetics equations, one can get in a few cases analytical solution for the set of differential equations in the form of explicit expressions for the number or weight fractions of i-mcrs (cf. also treatment of distribution of an ideal hyperbranched polymer). Alternatively, the distribution is stored in the form of generating functions from which the moments of the distribution can be extracted. In the latter case, when the rate constant is not directly proportional to number of unreacted functional groups, or the mass action law are not obeyed, Monte-Carlo simulation techniques can be used (cf. e.g. [2,3,47-52]). This technique was also used for simulation of distribution of hyperbranched polymers [21, 51, 52],... 

The first strategies to random hyperbranched polymers involved exclusively step-growth polymerizations. This limited the potential applications for these architectures to areas where only condensation-type polymers are acceptable. Frechet et al. [21] presented the first example of a hyperbranched vinyl polymerization in 1995, ] initiating the birth of a second generation of hyperbranched... 

Dendrimer synthesis involves a repetitive building of generations through alternating chemistry steps which approximately double the mass and surface functionality with every generation as discussed earlier [1-4, 18], Random (statistical) hyperbranched polymer synthesis involves the self-condensation of multifunctional monomers, usually in a one-pot single series of covalent formation events [31], Random hyperbranched polymers and dendrimers of comparable molecular mass have the same number of branch points and terminal units, and any application requiring only these two characteristics could be satisfied by either architectural type. Since dendrimer synthesis requires many defined synthetic and process purification steps while hyperbranched synthesis may involve a one-pot synthetic step with no purification, the dendrimers will necessarily be a much more expensive material to produce. 

A majority of the hyperbranched polymers reported in the literature are synthesized via the one-pot condensation reactions of A B monomers. Such one-step polycondensations result in highly branched polymers even though they are not as idealized as the generation-wise constructed dendrimers. The often very tedious synthetic procedures for dendrimers not only result in expensive polymers but also limit their availability. Hyperbranched polymers, on the other hand, are often easy to synthesize on a large scale and often at a reasonable cost, which makes them very interesting for large-scale industrial applications. 

The second generation of hyperbranched polymers was introduced a few years ago when Frechet et al. reported the use of self-condensing vinyl polymerization to prepare hyperbranched polymers by carbocationic systems (Fig. 3) [46]. Similar procedures but adapted for radical polymerization were shortly thereafter demonstrated by Hawker et al. [47] and Matyjaszewski et al. [48]. 

Our work with perfect dendrimers continues. The goal is to synthesize at least four generations and then make extensive comparisons between hyperbranched polymers and dendrimers, both from a physical and chemical properties points of view. 

Dendrimers (Newkome et al., 1996) and hyperbranched polymers, HBP, look like functional microgels in their compactness but they differ in two aspects they do not contain cyclic structures and, more importantly, they are much smaller, in the range of a few nanometers in size. They are prepared stepwise in successive generations (dendrimers) or they are obtained by the polyaddition/polycondensation of ABf monomers, where only the A + B reaction is possible (HBP Voit, 2000). Both molecules have tree-like structures, but a large distribution of molar masses exists in the case of HBP. 

Abstract Enantioselection in a stoichiometric or catalytic reaction is governed by small increments of free enthalpy of activation, and such transformations are thus in principle suited to assessing dendrimer effects which result from the immobilization of molecular catalysts. Chiral dendrimer catalysts, which possess a high level of structural regularity, molecular monodispersity and well-defined catalytic sites, have been generated either by attachment of achiral complexes to chiral dendrimer structures or by immobilization of chiral catalysts to non-chiral dendrimers. As monodispersed macromolecular supports they provide ideal model systems for less regularly structured but commercially more viable supports such as hyperbranched polymers, and have been successfully employed in continuous-flow membrane reactors. The combination of an efficient control over the environment of the active sites of multi-functional catalysts and their immobilization on an insoluble macromolecular support has resulted in the synthesis of catalytic dendronized polymers. In these, the catalysts are attached in a well-defined way to the dendritic sections, thus ensuring a well-defined microenvironment which is similar to that of the soluble molecular species or at least closely related to the dendrimer catalysts themselves. 

Whereas the well-characterized, perfect (or nearly so) structures of dendritic macromolecules, constructed in discrete stepwise procedures have been described in the preceding chapters, this Chapter reports on the related, less than perfect, hyperbranched polymers, which are synthesized by means of a direct, one-step polycondensation of A B monomers, where x > 2. Flory s prediction and subsequent demonstration 1,2 that A B monomers generate highly branched polymers heralded advances in the creation of idealized dendritic systems thus the desire for simpler, and in most cases more economical, (one-step) procedures to the hyperbranched relatives became more attractive. 

A related series of hyperbranched polymers possessing high molecular weight (20,000-50,000 amu) was also created 20,21 by the melt condensation of 5-acetoxy- (8) or 5-(2-hydroxyethoxy)-(9) isophthalic acids (Scheme 6.3). Polymerization of diacid 8 was effected in two stages (1) melting at 250 °C combined with removal of acetic acid with the aid of an inert gas, and (2) application of a vacuum at the onset of solid state formation. Refluxing the resultant acid-terminated, ester-linked polymer 10 in THF/H20 decomposed the labile anhydride cross-links, which were generated under the reaction conditions. 

Miller, Neenan, et al.129,301 reported a general single-pot method (Scheme 6.5) for the preparation of poly(arylether) hyperbranched macromolecules (14 a-d), that are functionally analogous to linear poly(arylether) engineering plastics.129-3 1 The hyperbranched polymers were generated from phenolic A2B-type monomers (15 a-d), that were converted to the corresponding sodium phenoxides (16 a-d NaH, THF) and subjected to polymerization. 

As described above, the fabrication of micro- and nano-sized patterns from the hyperbranched polymers as thin layers on defined matrix surfaces has been nicely accomplished. We went one step further and tried to generate free-standing three-dimensional structures. Since hb-PAAs can be readily... 

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