MODIFICATION OF POLYMERS bases

Soper, S. A. Henry, A. C. Vaidya, B. Galloway, M. Wabuyele, M. McCarley, R. L., Surface modification of polymer-based microfluidic devices, Anal. Chim. Acta 2002, 470, 87-99. 

Cross-linking, vulcanization, and grafting are some of the polymer reactions that take place on functional or reactive groups located in the polymer main chain. We have already discussed some of these reactions in the preceding sections. We now discuss other examples of modification of polymers based on reactive monomers, oligomers, or polymers. 

Polymer Amphiphiles. Modification of polymer-based amphiphiles may introduce specific functional groups that confer a variety of selective applications. Amino acid residues and sugar groups have been often used to modify particularly the HLB properties. 

One-Pot Double Modification of Polymers Based on Thiolactone Chemistry... 

However, the chief purpose of introduction of fillers into PCM is to make possible the modification of polymers and thereby create materials with a prescribed set of physico-mechanical properties, and, obviously, the properties of filled materials may be controlled by, for example, varying the type of the base polymer (the matrix ) and filler, its particle size distribution and shape. It may not require a large quantity of filler [7]. Thanks to considerable advances in PCM research, their use in a broad range of industries — machine building, construction, aerospace technology, etc. — has become extensive [8 — 11]. 

Nowadays, a strategic area of research is the development of polymers based on carbohydrates due to the worldwide focus on sustainable materials. Since the necessary multi-step synthesis of carbohydrate-based polymers is not economical for the production of commodity plastics, functionalization of synthetic polymers by carbohydrates has become a current subject of research. This aims to prepare new bioactive and biocompatible polymers capable of exerting a temporary therapeutic function. The large variety of methods of anchoring carbohydrates onto polymers as well as the current and potential applications of the functionalized polymers has been discussed recently in a critical review [171]. Of importance is that such modification renders not only functionality but also biodegradability to the synthetic polymers. 

A kinetic model based on the Flory principle is referred to as the ideal model. Up to now this model by virtue of its simplicity, has been widely used to treat experimental data and to carry out engineering calculations when designing advanced polymer materials. However, strong experimental evidence for the violation of the Flory principle is currently available from the study of a number of processes of the synthesis and chemical modification of polymers. Possible reasons for such a violation may be connected with either chemical or physical factors. The first has been scrutinized both theoretically and experimentally, but this is not the case for the second among which are thermodynamic and diffusion factors. In this review we by no means pretend to cover all theoretical works in which these factors have been taken into account at the stage of formulating physicochemical models of the process... 

Imaging Processes Based on Side-Chain Modification of Polymers... 

Modification of Diisocyanate-Based Particleboard and Plywood Glues with Natural Polymers Polyphenols, Carbohydrates, and Proteins... 

A significant number of works are concerned with the development of new membranes for the separation of mixtures of aromatic/alicyclic hydrocarbons [10,11,77-109]. For example, the following works can be mentioned. A mixture of cellulose ester and polyphosphonate ester (50 wt%) was used for benzene/cyclohexane separation [113]. High values of the separation factor and flux were achieved (up to 2 kg/m h). In order to achieve better fluxes and separation factors the attention was shifted to the modification of polymers by grafting technique. Grafted membranes were made of polyvinylidene fluoride with 4-vinyl pyridine or acrylic acid by irradiation [83]. 2-Hydroxy-3-(diethyl-amino) propyl methacrylate-styrene copolymer membranes with cyanuric chloride were prepared, which exhibited a superior separation factor /3p= 190 for a feed aromatic component concentration of 20 wt%. Graft copolymer membranes based on 2-hydroxyethyl methylacrylate-methylacrylate with thickness 10 pm were prepared [85]. The membranes yielded a flux of 0.7 kg/m h (for feed with 50 wt% of benzene) and excellent selectivity. Benzene concentration in permeate was about 100 wt%. A membrane based on polyvinyl alcohol and polyallyl amine was prepared [87]. For a feed containing 10 wt% of benzene the blend membrane yielded a flux of 1-3 kg/m h and a separation factor of 62. 

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