Methyl methacrylate polymerization kinetics

Torkelson and coworkers [274,275] have developed kinetic models to describe the formation of gels in free-radical pol5nnerization. They have incorporated diffusion limitations into the kinetic coefficient for radical termination and have compared their simulations to experimental results on methyl methacrylate polymerization. A basic kinetic model with initiation, propagation, and termination steps, including the diffusion hmitations, was found to describe the gelation effect, or time for gel formation, of several samples sets of experimental data. 

In this paper the GPC interpretation underlying the kinetic model of methyl methacrylate polymerization previously publMied and by now shown to be useful is detailed and updated. It provides a prime example of the conventional experimental use of GPC in homopolymerization studio. 

The synthetic aspects of coordination catalysis still receive far more attention than mechanistic aspects, and precious little can be said with assurance concerning the mechanisms of the foregoing polymerization reactions. Almost the opposite is true of the free radical initiation of vinyl polymerization by metal carbonyls. Bamford et al. (10,11) have studied the kinetics of several such reactions and arrived at plausible interpretations of their results. The initiation of methyl methacrylate polymerization by tetracobalt dodecacarbonyl in the presence of carbon tetrachloride was studied in detail and the results were rationalized in terms of the following mechanism ... 

The key problems in a polymerization CSTR are the determination and characterization of micro- and macromixing, and the possibility of multiple steady states due to the exothermic nature of the reactions. Recent studies of CSTRs for bulk or solution free-radical polymerization indicate the possibility of multiple steady states due to the large heat evolution and difficult heat transfer that are characteristic of the reactors. Furthermore, even in simple solution polymerization (for example, in methyl methacrylate polymerization in ethyl acetate solvent), autocatalytic kinetics can lead to runaway conditions even with perfect temperature control for certain combinations of solvent concentration and reactor residence time. In practice, the heat evolution can be an additional source of autocatalytic behavior. 

Polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) polymerizations are typical of homogeneous bulk chain-growth reactions. The molecular weight distributions of the products made in these reactions are broader than predicted from consideration of classical, homogeneous phase free-radical polymerization kinetics because of autoacceleration (Section 6.13.2) and temperature rises at higher conversions. 

Kinetics and Mechanism of Methyl Methacrylate Polymerization Photoinitiated by Benzophenones in Tetrahydrofuran... 

Summaiy In this short review, selected experimental approaches for probing the mechanism and kinetics of RAFT polymerization are highlighted. Methods for studying RAFT polymerization via varying reaction conditions, such as pressure, temperature, and solution properties, are reviewed. A technique for the measurement of the RAFT specific addition and fragmentation reaction rates via combination of pulsed-laser-initiated RAFT polymerization and j,s-time-resolved electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy is detailed. Mechanistic investigations using mass spectrometry are exemplified on dithiobenzoic-acid-mediated methyl methacrylate polymerization. 

Bulk Polymerization. This is the method of choice for the manufacture of poly(methyl methacrylate) sheets, rods, and tubes, and molding and extmsion compounds. In methyl methacrylate bulk polymerization, an auto acceleration is observed beginning at 20—50% conversion. At this point, there is also a corresponding increase in the molecular weight of the polymer formed. This acceleration, which continues up to high conversion, is known as the Trommsdorff effect, and is attributed to the increase in viscosity of the mixture to such an extent that the diffusion rate, and therefore the termination reaction of the growing radicals, is reduced. This reduced termination rate ultimately results in a polymerization rate that is limited only by the diffusion rate of the monomer. Detailed kinetic data on the bulk polymerization of methyl methacrylate can be found in Reference 42. 

In this work, a comprehensive kinetic model, suitable for simulation of inilticomponent aiulsion polymerization reactors, is presented A well-mixed, isothermal, batch reactor is considered with illustrative purposes. Typical model outputs are PSD, monomer conversion, multivariate distritution of the i lymer particles in terms of numtoer and type of contained active Chains, and pwlymer ccmposition. Model predictions are compared with experimental data for the ternary system acrylonitrile-styrene-methyl methacrylate. 

A detailed study of the mechanism of the insertion reaction of monomer between the metal-carbon bond requires quantitative information on the kinetics of the process. For this information to be meaningful, studies should be carried out on a homogeneous system. Whereas olefins and compounds such as Zr(benzyl)4 and Cr(2-Me-allyl)3, etc. are very soluble in hydrocarbon solvents, the polymers formed are crystalline and therefore insoluble below the melting temperature of the polyolefine formed. It is therefore not possible to use olefins for kinetic studies. Two completely homogeneous systems have been identified that can be used to study the polymerization quantitatively. These are the polymerization of styrene by Zr(benzyl)4 in toluene (16, 25) and the polymerization of methyl methacrylate by Cr(allyl)3 and Cr(2-Me-allyl)3 (12)- The latter system is unusual since esters normally react with transition metal allyl compounds (10) but a-methyl esters such as methyl methacrylate do not (p. 270) and the only product of reaction is polymethylmethacrylate. Also it has been shown with both systems that polymerization occurs without a change in the oxidation state of the metal. 

A study of the polymerization kinetics of methyl methacrylate, in the presence of PBN, and of molecular-mass properties of the obtained polymers shows that the systems react by the pseudoliving mechanism (699). In the first stages of the polymerization process, PBN reacts with oligomeric radicals, forming stable nitroxyl radical-spin adducts A-, see Scheme 2.207. 

A critical survey of the literature on free radical polymerizations in the presence of phase transfer agents indicates that the majority of these reactions are initiated by transfer of an active species (monomer or initiator) from one phase to another, although the exact details of this phase transfer may be influenced by the nature of the phase transfer catalyst and reaction medium. Initial kinetic studies of the solution polymerization of methyl methacrylate utilizing solid potassium persulfate and Aliquat 336 yield the experimental rate law ... 

Takeishi, et. al, have described the redox polymerization of methyl methacrylate in the absence of solvent (6). With 18-crown-6 as the phase transfer catalyst and potassium persulfate/sodiurn bisulfite as the redox couple, polymerization was observed at temperatures <50 C whereas little or no polymerization occurred under these conditions in the absence of bisulfite. Above 55 C, however, polymerization occurred even in the absence of bisulfite. From the limited kinetic data reported (6), one can estimate (13) that the rate of polymerization (Rp) is approximately proportional to the square root of crown concentration (Equation 1) ... 

The kinetics of methyl methacrylate (MMA) polymerization in ethyl acetate/water two phase systems was described as being more well-behaved ( ). Using hexadecylpyridinium chloride (HPC) as the phase transfer catalyst, Rp was found to be approximately first order in MMA concentration. In support of a typical phase transfer mechanism, it was found that... 

Most addition polymers are formed from polymerizations exhibiting chain-growth kinetics. This includes the typical polymerizations, via free radical or some ionic mode, of the vast majority of vinyl monomers such as vinyl chloride, ethylene, styrene, propylene, methyl methacrylate, and vinyl acetate. By comparison, most condensation polymers are formed from systems exhibiting stepwise kinetics. Industrially this includes the formation of polyesters and polyamides (nylons). Thus, there exists a large overlap between the terms stepwise kinetics and condensation polymers, and chainwise kinetics and addition (or vinyl) polymers. A comparison of the two types of systems is given in Table 4.1. 

One of the early specialized techniques used for the study of radical reactions was the rotating sector method. The use of this technique (Fig. 6) for determining reaction kinetics was demonstrated by Melville for the gas phase polymerization of methyl methacrylate, and later by Bartlett and Swain for the liquid phase reaction, and by Carlsson and Ingold for tin hydride reductions. ... 

Fig. 2. Polymerization reactions in the presence of radical scavenging oxygen. Kinetic constants are approximate values for methyl methacrylate...

A review is given on the kinetics of the anionic polymerization of methyl methacrylate and tert.-butyl methacrylate in tetrahydrofuran and 1,2-dimethoxy-ethane, including major results of the author s laboratory. The Arrhenius plots for the propagation reaction+are linear and independent of the counterion (i.e. Na, Cs). The results are discussed assuming the active centre to be a contact ion pair with an enolate-like anion the counterion thus exhibiting little influence on the reactivity of the carbanion. 

A factor that affects the kinetics of the polymerization, and, more critically, the utility of the monomer in copolymerizations with other monomers, e.g., methyl methacrylate, is the stability of the radical formed from addition of the growing polymer chain to the vinyl terminus. In order to gauge the stabilizing effect of the phcnylethynyl group, and the sensitivity of the stabilization to substitution at the para position of the aromatic ring, Ochiai and co-workers carried out calculations at the UHF/3-21G level to evaluate... 

The polymerization of methyl methacrylate is retarded by p benzo-quinone. Kinetic analysis (38) showed that the molecular weight and rate data could be interpreted if... 

Several methodologies for preparation of monodisperse polymer particles are known [1]. Among them, dispersion polymerization in polar media has often been used because of the versatility and simplicity of the process. So far, the dispersion polymerizations and copolymerizations of hydrophobic classical monomers such as styrene (St), methyl methacrylate (MMA), etc., have been extensively investigated, in which the kinetic, molecular weight and colloidal parameters could be controlled by reaction conditions [6]. The preparation of monodisperse polymer particles in the range 1-20 pm is particularly challenging because it is just between the limits of particle size of conventional emulsion polymerization (100-700 nm) and suspension polymerization (20-1000 pm). 

---