Poly acrylonitrile

Poly (acrylonitrile). Poly(acrylonitrile) polymers have the following formula ... 

Poly(acrylonitrile) has found little use as a plastics material because it softens only slightly below its decomposition temperature of about 300°C. In addition it does not dissolve in its monomer so it cannot be shaped by bulk casting. It will,... 

Copolymers of acrylonitrile and vinylidene chloride have been used for many years to produce films of low gas permeability, often as a coating on another material. Styrene-acrylonitrile with styrene as the predominant free monomer (SAN polymers) has also been available for a long time. In the 1970s materials were produced which aimed to provide a compromise between the very low gas permeability of poly(vinylidene chloride) and poly(acrylonitrile) with the processability of polystyrene or SAN polymers (discussed more fully in Chapter 16). These became known as nitrile resins. 

Table 15.4 illustrates that though the nitrile resins had a gas permeability much higher than has poly(acrylonitrile) the figures for oxygen and carbon dioxide are much lower than for other thermoplastics used for packaging. 

Kisamori, S., Kuroda, K., Kawano, S., Moehida, 1., Matsumura, Y. and Yoshikawa, M., Oxidative removal of SO2 and recovery of H2SO4 over poly(acrylonitrile)-baacd active carbon fiber. Energy Fuels, 1994, 8(6), 1337 1340. 

Several selective interactions by MIP membrane systems have been reported. For example, an L-phenylalanine imprinted membrane prepared by in-situ crosslinking polymerization showed different fluxes for various amino acids [44]. Yoshikawa et al. [51] have prepared molecular imprinted membranes from a membrane material which bears a tetrapeptide residue (DIDE resin (7)), using the dry phase inversion procedure. It was found that a membrane which contains an oligopeptide residue from an L-amino acid and is imprinted with an L-amino acid derivative, recognizes the L-isomer in preference to the corresponding D-isomer, and vice versa. Exceptional difference in sorption selectivity between theophylline and caffeine was observed for poly(acrylonitrile-co-acrylic acid) blend membranes prepared by the wet phase inversion technique [53]. 

Concerning the reaction of ACPC with diols, the frequent use of poly(ethylene glycol) has to be mentioned [20-24]. Ueda et al. ([22-24]) reacted preformed poly(ethylene glycol) (Mn between 6 x 10 to 2 x 10 ) with ACPC. In this case, unlike the reaction of ACPA with diols vide ante), no additional condensation agent was needed. The ethylene glycol-based thermally labile polymers were used to produce blocks with poly(vinyl chloride) [22], poly(styrene) [23], poly(methyl acrylate), poly(vinyl acetate), and poly(acrylonitrile) [24]. 

Phenols, alkali225, and some other substances226-228 serve as initiators of these reactions. In the case of poly(acrylonitrile) this role is played by a tertiary hydrogen which is activated by the C=N group. 

Other uses of thickening agents include pharmaceutical preparations, paper production, and oil well drilling fluids. This latter use is necessary because oil is obtained from rock that is porous. In order to remove the oil without altering the mechanical properties of the porous rock, viscous liquids ( drilling fluids ) are pumped into the rock to replace the oil. Among the substances that can be used for this purpose are thickened aqueous solutions of polymers such as poly(acrylic acid) or poly(acrylonitrile). 

Polymer gels In response to pH changes in their enviromnent, materials derived from poly(acrylonitrile) will swell or shrink in a slow analogy to muscle action, thought to have robotic applications. 

Coleman and Sivy also used an infrared transmission cell to undertake degradation studies under reduced pressure on a series of poly(acrylonitrile) (ACN) copolymers [30-33]. Thin films prepared from a polymer were mounted in the specially designed temperature-controlled cell mounted within the infrared spectrometer. The comparative studies were made on ACN copolymers containing vinyl acetate [30,32], methacrylic acid [30,31] and acrylamide [30,33]. The species monitored was the production of the cyclised pyridone structure. This was characterised in part by loss of C=N stretch (vC = N) intensity at 2,240 cm-1 accompanied by the appearance and increase in intensity of a doublet at 1,610/1,580 cm-1. 

Figure 3 Molecular structure of acetonitrile and poly(acrylonitrile).

Fig. 1.16 Schematic representation of the nanofibrous poly (acrylonitrile-co-acrylic acid) membrane containing MWCNTs, as well as the promoted electron transfer from hydrogen peroxide to the immobilized catalase through the PANCAA/MWCNTs nanofiber. Reprinted from [209] (reproduced by permission ofWiley-VCH).

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