Polar effect radical copolymerization

The above argument is also at odds with the conventional wisdom that the well-known tendency for monomer alternation in copolymerization can primarily be attributed to polar factors. It was suggested9 that, in most cases, radical stabilization could provide an alternate explanation. A discussion on the relative importance of steric polar and radical stabilization effects on radical addition appears in Section 2.3. 

Steric effects similar to those in radical copolymerization are also operative in cationic copolymerizations. Table 6-9 shows the effect of methyl substituents in the a- and 11-positions of styrene. Reactivity is increased by the a-methyl substituent because of its electron-donating power. The decreased reactivity of P-methylstyrene relative to styrene indicates that the steric effect of the P-substituent outweighs its polar effect of increasing the electron density on the double bond. Furthermore, the tranx-fl-methylstyrene appears to be more reactive than the cis isomer, although the difference is much less than in radical copolymerization (Sec. 6-3b-2). It is worth noting that 1,2-disubstituted alkenes have finite r values in cationic copolymerization compared to the values of zero in radical copolymerization (Table 6-2). There is a tendency for 1,2-disubstituted alkenes to self-propagate in cationic copolymerization, although this tendency is low in the radical reaction. 

Because the addition steps are generally fast and consequently exothermic chain steps, their transition states should occur early on the reaction coordinate and therefore resemble the starting alkene. This was recently confirmed by ab initio calculations for the attack at ethylene by methyl radicals and fluorene atoms. The relative stability of the adduct radicals therefore should have little influence on reacti-vity 2 ). The analysis of reactivity and regioselectivity for radical addition reactions, however, is even more complex, because polar effects seem to have an important influence. It has been known for some time that electronegative radicals X-prefer to react with ordinary alkenes while nucleophilic alkyl or acyl radicals rather attack electron deficient olefins e.g., cyano or carbonyl substituted olefins The best known example for this behavior is copolymerization This view was supported by different MO-calculation procedures and in particular by the successful FMO-treatment of the regioselectivity and relative reactivity of additions of radicals to a series of alkenes An excellent review of most of the more recent experimental data and their interpretation was published recently by Tedder and... 

Tphis paper is concerned with the effect of ionizing radiation on the physical and mechanical properties of copolymers of ethylene with alkyl acrylates, such as ethyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, and 2-ethvlhexyl acrylate (J, 2, 3). These polymers are made by the free radical copolymerization of ethylene under high pressure with alkyl esters of acrylic acid (9). They are more flexible than polyethylene and because of the polar nature of the comonomer, they are more compatible with fillers and with other polymers than is polyethylene. 

An investigation into the initiation mechanism of copolymerization of ethyl vinyl ether and acrylonitrile by /-butoxyl radicals lias shown that the reaction between the two monomers competes successfully with radical trapping by the nitroxide radical trap (5).37 The /-butoxyl radicals react 3-6 times faster with ethyl vinyl ether than acrylonitrile the authors proposed that this is due to selective interaction of one monomer with the radical species rather than a solvent polarity effect. 

A zwitterionic tetramethylene initiates ionic homopolymerization, while a diradical tetramethylene initiates free radical copolymerization. As initiating species, zwitterions are likely to remain in the coiled gauche-conformation and collapse to small molecules. Diradicals, on the other hand, are easily transferred to the trans-conformation. Accordingly, diradicals are more effective initiators and more radical copolymerizations occur than ionic homopolymerizations. Addition of solvent will also influence the reaction of polar tetramethylene. A polar non-donor solvent may permit carbenium ion polymerization, while a polar donor solvent impedes it. 

Kennedy 67,77 118) studied the ability of w-styryl-polyisobutene macromonomers to undergo free-radical copolymerization with either styrene or butyl or methyl methacrylate. Here, the macromonomers exhibited a relatively high molecular weight of 9000, and the reaction was stopped after roughly 20% of the comonomer had been converted. The radical reactivity ratios of styrene and methyl methacrylate with respect to macromonomer were found to be equal to 2 and to 0.5, respectively. From these results, Kennedy concluded that in the ra-styrylpolyisobutene/styrene system the reactivity of the macromonomer double bond is reduced whereas with methacrylate as the comonomer the polar effect is the main driving force, yielding reactivities similar to those observed in the classical system styrene/MMA. 

Historically, high-pressure free radical copolymerization has been used to produce highly branched, ill-defined copolymers of ethylene and various polar monomers. Although these materials are in production and extensively used throughout the world, the controlled incorporation of polar functionality coupled with linear polymer structure is still desired to improve material properties. Recent focus in this area has led to the development of new transition metal catalysts for ethylene copolymerization however, due to the electro-philicity of the metal centers in these catalysts, polar functional groups often coordinate with the metal center, effectively poisoning the catalyst. There has b een some success, but comonomer incorporation is hard to control, leading to end-functionalized, branched polyethylenes [44, 46]. These results are undesirable due to low incorporation of polar monomer into the polymer as well... 

On the other hand, for a reason why the intermolecular ht addition may be equilibrated, the electrostatic repulsion between the highly polar anhydride units may be considered similar to the well known case in the radical copolymerization of vinyl monomers carrying carbonyl(34) or nitrile group(35) in which the penultimate effect is involved. That is, the polymer(D) obtained via intramolecular hh and intermolecular tt additions in which five-membered anhydride units are separated by two methylene units is sterically and/or electrostatically favorable compared with the polymer(E) formed via intramolecular ht and intermolecular ht additions in which six-membered anhydride units are separated by only one methylene unit. 

The propagation rates in ionic polymerizations are influenced by the polarity of the monomers in free-radical reactions, the relative reactivity of the monomers can be correlated with resonance stabihty, polarity, and steric effects we shall consider only radical copolymerizations. 

This influence by the penultimate chain end can considerably modify the reactivity ratio (Table 22-4). The effect is particularly strong with monomers containing very polar groups near the main chain, and it is probably also responsible for the fact that the product of the conventionally determined reactivity ratios in the free radical copolymerization of ethylene with different monomers is sometimes greater than one (Table 22-5). 

Cross termination n. In free radical copolymerization, termination by reaction of two radicals terminated by monomer units of the opposite type, i.e., termination, by combination or disproportionation with rate constant /cab Crosstermination is often favored over termination by reaction between two like radicals due to polar effects. 

Copolymerization. Acrylic and methacrylic acids readily copolymerize free radically with many vinyl monomers. This versatility results from a combination of their highly reactive double bonds and their miscibility with a wide variety of water- and solvent-soluble monomers. Reactivity ratios derived from copolymerizations with many monomers are tabulated in many books on polymerization, for example in Wiley s Polymer Handbook (14) (see also Wiley s Database of Polymer Properties). Q and e values are parameters that may be established for a monomer based on a large number of reactivity ratios with other monomers. These parameters are associated with interactions between the monomer and the growing chain via resonance (Q) and polar effects (e). 

When such effects are important, the polarity of the solvent affects radical selectivity as well as radical reactivity. This is because the extent to which charge-transfer stabilization can occur, and hence the extent to which polar solvents can further enhance these effects, depends on both reacting species. For instance, in a free-radical copolymerization, it is likely that polar interactions would be more important in the cross-propagations (when the monomer and radical bear different substituents and thus have different electronic properties) than in the... 

Polarity effects can also result in solvent effects in free-radical copolymerization. Recent theoretical studies (43,55-57) of small-radical addition reactions suggest that in a wide range of cross-propagation reactions, the transition structure is stabilized by the contribution of charge-transfer configurations. When this is the case, the extent of stabilization (and hence the propagation rate) will be... 

---