Polar solvents, polymerization

Substituted aroyl- and heteroaroyltrimethylsilanes (acylsilanes) are prepared by the coupling of an aroyl chloride with (Me3Si)2 without decarbonylation, and this chemistry is treated in Section 1.2[629], Under certain conditions, aroyl chlorides react with disilanes after decarbonylation. Thus the reaction of aroyl chlorides with disilane via decarbonylation is a good preparative method for aromatic silicon compounds. As an interesting application, trimel-litic anhydride chloride (764) reacts with dichlorotetramethyidisilane to afford 4-chlorodimethylsilylphthalic anhydride (765), which is converted into 766 and used for polymerization[630]. When the reaction is carried out in a non-polar solvent, biphthalic anhydride (767) is formed[631]. Benzylchlorodimethylsilane (768) is obtained by the coupling of benzyl chloride with dichlorotetramethyl-disilane[632,633]. 

Intermolecular H bond Dimeric Polymeric 3600-3500 3400-3200 (s) Rather sharp. Absorptions arising from H bond with polar solvents also appear in this region. Broad... 

This polymerization is carried out in the two stages indicated above precisely because of the insolubility and infusibility of the final product. The first-stage polyamide, structure [IX], is prepared in polar solvents and at relatively low temperatures, say, 70°C or less. The intermediate is then introduced to the intended application-for example, a coating or lamination-then the second-stage cyclization is carried out at temperatures in the range 150-300°C. Note the formation of five-membered rings in the formation of the polyimide, structure [X], and also that the proportion of acid to amine groups is 2 1 for reaction (5.II). 

Tacticity of products. Most solid catalysts produce isotactic products. This is probably because of the highly orienting effect of the solid surface, as noted in item (1). The preferred isotactic configuration produced at these surfaces is largely governed by steric and electrostatic interactions between the monomer and the ligands of the transition metal. Syndiotacticity is mostly produced by soluble catalysts. Syndiotactic polymerizations are carried out at low temperatures, and even the catalyst must be prepared at low temperatures otherwise specificity is lost. With polar monomers syndiotacticity is also promoted by polar reaction media. Apparently the polar solvent molecules compete with monomer for coordination sites, and thus indicate more loosely coordinated reactive species. 

Polymerizations are typically quenched with water, alcohol, or base. The resulting polymerizates are then distilled and steam and/or vacuum stripped to yield hard resin. Hydrocarbon resins may also be precipitated by the addition of the quenched reaction mixture to an excess of an appropriate poor solvent. As an example, aUphatic C-5 resins are readily precipitated in acetone, while a more polar solvent such as methanol is better suited for aromatic C-9 resins. 

Terpolymers from dimethy]-a.-methy]styrene (3,4-isomer preferred)—a-methylstyrene—styrene blends in a 1 1 1 weight ratio have been shown to be useful in adhesive appHcations. The use of ring-alkylated styrenes aids in the solubiHty of the polymer in less polar solvents and polymeric systems (75). Monomer concentrations of no greater than 20% and temperatures of less than —20° C are necessary to achieve the desired properties. 

Anionic polymerization of vinyl monomers can be effected with a variety of organometaUic compounds alkyllithium compounds are the most useful class (1,33—35). A variety of simple alkyllithium compounds are available commercially. Most simple alkyllithium compounds are soluble in hydrocarbon solvents such as hexane and cyclohexane and they can be prepared by reaction of the corresponding alkyl chlorides with lithium metal. Methyllithium [917-54-4] and phenyllithium [591-51-5] are available in diethyl ether and cyclohexane—ether solutions, respectively, because they are not soluble in hydrocarbon solvents vinyllithium [917-57-7] and allyllithium [3052-45-7] are also insoluble in hydrocarbon solutions and can only be prepared in ether solutions (38,39). Hydrocarbon-soluble alkyllithium initiators are used directiy to initiate polymerization of styrene and diene monomers quantitatively one unique aspect of hthium-based initiators in hydrocarbon solution is that elastomeric polydienes with high 1,4-microstmcture are obtained (1,24,33—37). Certain alkyllithium compounds can be purified by recrystallization (ethyllithium), sublimation (ethyllithium, /-butyUithium [594-19-4] isopropyllithium [2417-93-8] or distillation (j -butyUithium) (40,41). Unfortunately, / -butyUithium is noncrystaUine and too high boiling to be purified by distiUation (38). Since methyllithium and phenyllithium are crystalline soUds which are insoluble in hydrocarbon solution, they can be precipitated into these solutions and then redissolved in appropriate polar solvents (42,43). OrganometaUic compounds of other alkaU metals are insoluble in hydrocarbon solution and possess negligible vapor pressures as expected for salt-like compounds. 

Aromatic radical anions, such as lithium naphthalene or sodium naphthalene, are efficient difunctional initiators (eqs. 6,7) (3,20,64). However, the necessity of using polar solvents for their formation and use limits their utility for diene polymerization, since the unique abiUty of lithium to provide high 1,4-polydiene microstmcture is lost in polar media (1,33,34,57,63,64). Consequentiy, a significant research challenge has been to discover a hydrocarbon-soluble dilithium initiator which would initiate the polymerization of styrene and diene monomers to form monomodal a, CO-dianionic polymers at rates which are faster or comparable to the rates of polymerization, ie, to form narrow molecular weight distribution polymers (61,65,66). 

Solubility. Poly(vinyl alcohol) is only soluble in highly polar solvents, such as water, dimethyl sulfoxide, acetamide, glycols, and dimethylformamide. The solubiUty in water is a function of degree of polymerization (DP) and hydrolysis (Fig. 4). Fully hydrolyzed poly(vinyl alcohol) is only completely soluble in hot to boiling water. However, once in solution, it remains soluble even at room temperature. Partially hydrolyzed grades are soluble at room temperature, although grades with a hydrolysis of 70—80% are only soluble at water temperatures of 10—40°C. Above 40°C, the solution first becomes cloudy (cloud point), followed by precipitation of poly(vinyl alcohol). 

This reaction is favored by higher reaction temperatures and polar solvents. Another degradation reaction common to ethers is oxidation, especially when the a-carbon is branched (17). Polymeric ethers of all types must not be exposed to oxygen, especially in the presence of transition metals because formation of peroxides can become significant. 

Alkali Metal Catalysts. The polymerization of isoprene with sodium metal was reported in 1911 (49,50). In hydrocarbon solvent or bulk, the polymerization of isoprene with alkaU metals occurs heterogeneously, whereas in highly polar solvents the polymerization is homogeneous (51—53). Of the alkah metals, only lithium in bulk or hydrocarbon solvent gives over 90% cis-1,4 microstmcture. Sodium or potassium metals in / -heptane give no cis-1,4 microstmcture, and 48—58 mol % /ram-1,4, 35—42% 3,4, and 7—10% 1,2 microstmcture (46). Alkali metals in benzene or tetrahydrofuran with crown ethers form solutions that readily polymerize isoprene however, the 1,4 content of the polyisoprene is low (54). For example, the polyisoprene formed with sodium metal and dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6 (crown ether) in benzene at 10°C contains 32% 1,4-, 44% 3,4-, and 24% 1,2-isoprene units (54). 

As normally polymerized, PVF melts between IH5 and 210 °C and contains 12 18% inverted monomer units ft is normally considered a thermoplastic, but because of its instability above its melting point, it cannot be processed by conventional thermoplastic techniques Instead it is generally extruded into films in a solvent swollen (organosol) form and the solvent is subsequently evaporated and recovered Such films can be onented further to achieve specific mechanical properties PVF films are exceptionally weather and radiabon resistant considenng their modest fluonne content PVF is insoluble below 100 °C but, at higher temperatures, it dissolves in polar solvents like amides, ketones, tetramethylene sulfone, and tetramethylurea Resistance to acids and bases at room temperature IS good [1, 29 ... 

Monosized polystyrene particles in the size range of 2-10 /am have been obtained by dispersion polymerization of styrene in polar solvents such as ethyl alcohol or mixtures of alcohol with water in the presence of a suitable steric stabilizer (59-62). Dispersion polymerization may be looked upon as a special type of precipitation polymerization and was originally meant to be an alternative to emulsion polymerization. The components of a dispersion polymerization include monomers, initiator, steric stabilizer, and the dispersion medium... 

Certain starting materials may give rise to the non-selective formation of regioisomeric enolates, leading to a mixture of isomeric products. Furthermore a ,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds tend to polymerize. The classical Michael procedure (i.e. polar solvent, catalytic amount of base) thus has some disadvantages, some of which can be avoided by use of preformed enolates. The CH-acidic carbonyl compound is converted to the corresponding enolate by treatment with an equimolar amount of a strong base, and in a second step the a ,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compound is added—often at low temperature. A similar procedure is applied for variants of the aldol reaction. 

Paine et al. [99] tried different stabilizers [i.e., hydroxy propylcellulose, poly(N-vinylpyrollidone), and poly(acrylic acid)] in the dispersion polymerization of styrene initiated with AIBN in the ethanol medium. The direct observation of the stained thin sections of the particles by transmission electron microscopy showed the existence of stabilizer layer in 10-20 nm thickness on the surface of the polystyrene particles. When the polystyrene latexes were dissolved in dioxane and precipitated with methanol, new latex particles with a similar surface stabilizer morphology were obtained. These results supported the grafting mechanism of stabilization during dispersion polymerization of styrene in polar solvents. 

The proton transfer mechanism described previously was confirmed somewhat by the influence of solvent polarity on polymerization. The rate of photopo-... 

Solvent polarity is also important in directing the reaction bath and the composition and orientation of the products. For example, the polymerization of butadiene with lithium in tetrahydrofuran (a polar solvent) gives a high 1,2 addition polymer. Polymerization of either butadiene or isoprene using lithium compounds in nonpolar solvent such as n-pentane produces a high cis-1,4 addition product. However, a higher cis-l,4-poly-isoprene isomer was obtained than when butadiene was used. This occurs because butadiene exists mainly in a transoid conformation at room temperature (a higher cisoid conformation is anticipated for isoprene) ... 

The reaction of radicals with nitroxides is reversible. 09 This means that the highest temperature that the technique can reasonably be employed at is ca 80 °C for tertiary propagating species and ca 120 °C for secondary propagating species.22 These maximum temperatures are only guidelines. The stability of alkoxyamines is also dependent on solvent (polar solvents favor decomposition) and the structure of the trapped species. This chemistry has led to certain alkoxyamines being useful as initiators of living polymerization (Section 9.3.6). At elevated temperatures nitroxides are observed to add to monomer albeit slowly. 3IS 5" 523... 

Thiols react more rapidly with nucleophilic radicals than with electrophilic radicals. They have very large Ctr with S and VAc, but near ideal transfer constants (C - 1.0) with acrylic monomers (Table 6.2). Aromatic thiols have higher C,r than aliphatic thiols but also give more retardation. This is a consequence of the poor reinitiation efficiency shown by the phenylthiyl radical. The substitution pattern of the alkanethiol appears to have only a small (<2-fokl) effect on the transfer constant. Studies on the reactions of small alkyl radicals with thiols indicate that the rate of the transfer reaction is accelerated in polar solvents and, in particular, water.5 Similar trends arc observed for transfer to 1 in S polymerization with Clr = 1.4 in benzene 3.6 in CUT and 6.1 in 5% aqueous CifiCN.1 In copolymerizations, the thiyl radicals react preferentially with electron-rich monomers (Section 3.4.3.2). 

Two-shot techniques for acyclic diene metathesis, 435-445 for polyamides, 149-164 for polyimides, 287-300 for polyurethanes, 241-246 for transition metal coupling, 483-490 Anionic deactivation, 360 Anionic polymerization, 149, 174 of lactam, 177-178 Apolar solvents, 90 Aprotic polar solvents, 185, 338 Aprotic solvents, low-temperature condensation in, 302 Aqueous coating formulations, 235 Aqueous polyoxymethylene glycol, depolymerization of, 377 Aqueous systems, 206 Ardel, 20, 22... 

Although the low temperature polymerization of methyl methacrylate in polar solvents such as THF was believed to proceed without termination, a more exhaustive investigation55) revealed some slow termination processes resulting from the formation of a, not yet specified agent, supposedly produced in the initiation step. Since the nature of the terminating agent is still unknown it is premature to discuss here the proposed schemes of this termination process. 

This explanation turned out to be incorrect for this system, although it might apply to some future one. Indeed, recent studies of Teyssie8 b) revealed that in the polymerization of oxiranes initiated in non-polar solvents by Al—Zn oxyalkoxides the slower methyl oxirane is more strongly coordinated with the catalytic center than the faster epichlorhydrine. It is possible that the behaviour postulated by Korotkov might be observed in such systems. 

Bifunctional initiators are sometimes needed e.g., for the synthesis of triblock copolymers, networks, or a,co-difunctional macromolecules. Whenever it is possible to carry out the polymerization in a polar solvent no major difficulty is involved, as bifunctional initiators covering a wide range of nucleophilicities are available (Table 2). 

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