Poly explanation

It has been observedt that poly(1,1-dimethyl propane) is the product when 3-methylbutene-l is polymerized with AICI3 in ethyl chloride at -130°C. Write structural formulas for the expected repeat units and those observed and propose an explanation. 

Poly(L-malate) decomposes spontaneously to L-ma-late by ester hydrolysis [2,4,5]. Hydrolytic degradation of the polymer sodium salt at pH 7.0 and 37°C results in a random cleavage of the polymer, the molecular mass decreasing by 50% after a period of 10 h [2]. The rate of hydrolysis is accelerated in acidic and alkaline solutions. This was first noted by changes in the activity of the polymer to inhibit DNA polymerase a of P. polycephalum [4]. The explanation of this phenomenon was that the degradation was slowest between pH 5-9 (Fig. 2) as would be expected if it were acid/base-catalyzed. In choosing a buffer, one should be aware of specific buffer catalysis. We found that the polymer was more stable in phosphate buffer than in Tris/HCl-buffer. 

Note that all the zero-order rate constants are essentially equivalent except those for the poly-hydric alcohols which are exactly half the value of the others. Ingold et al (Ref 49a) interpret this to mean that the rate of attack of nitronium is the same for both OH groups of the glycol molecule. Since there are two such groups the overall rate constant k0 is Vi that for monohydric alcohols. The explanation for the observed k0 for glycerol is more complex. In essence it consists of postulating that the two outside OH s are readily nitrated, ie, the 1-OH is nitrated at the same rate as the 3-OH, but the middle OH is nitrated much more slowly... 

The latter seem to be more reactive than the former, and hence the shift of the equilibrium leads to an increase in the polymerization rate. This explanation was verified by investigating the polymerization initiated by monofunctional initiators31), as well as by difunctional poly-a-methyl styrene of DP 70 and 270 32). No curvature was observed in the first case, neither in the second provided that the DPn of the initiator was sufficiently large. 

The enoHsation may be rate-determining (to afford the zero-order dependence on oxidant concentration) or the oxidation step may be slower (to give the first-order dependence). The second-order dependence on oxidant concentration for acetone and nitroethane cannot involve slow oxidation of a free radical and no ready alternative explanation is available. Maltz showed that the rate of oxidation of isobutanal equals the rate of enolisation, and that two main paths of oxidation are followed subsequent to enolisation leading either to tetramethyldihydropyrazine and a poly-aquocyanoiron(II) species or to isobutyric acid. 

The above explanation of autoacceleration phenomena is supported by the manifold increase in the initial polymerization rate for methyl methacrylate which may be brought about by the addition of poly-(methyl methacrylate) or other polymers to the monomer.It finds further support in the suppression, or virtual elimination, of autoacceleration which has been observed when the molecular weight of the polymer is reduced by incorporating a chain transfer agent (see Sec. 2f), such as butyl mercaptan, with the monomer.Not only are the much shorter radical chains intrinsically more mobile, but the lower molecular weight of the polymer formed results in a viscosity at a given conversion which is lower by as much as several orders of magnitude. Both factors facilitate diffusion of the active centers and, hence, tend to eliminate the autoacceleration. Final and conclusive proof of the correctness of this explanation comes from measurements of the absolute values of individual rate constants (see p. 160), which show that the termination constant does indeed decrease a hundredfold or more in the autoacceleration phase of the polymerization, whereas kp remains constant within experimental error. 

Unlike polybutadiene, polyisoprene prepared at low temperatures shows little or no inclination to crystallize either on stretching or cooling. This may seem surprising in view of the even greater preponderance of trans-1 4 units in polyisoprene than in poly butadiene. The explanation for the contrasting behavior in this respect between low temperature synthetic polyisoprene, on the one hand, and guttapercha and low temperature polybutadiene, on the other, probably is to be found in the appreciable occurrence of head-to-head and tail-to-tail sequences of 1,4 units of the former. 

When diabetic rabbits (24) were treated with 50 IU of bovine insulin imbibed at 50 mg/g poly (acrylic acid) (Figure 14) no reduction in serum glucose over that achieved by the dry blend control could be detected. Pretreatment of the animals with oral doses of either a penetration enhancer, sodium taurocholate, or a protease inhibitor, aproteinin, failed to improve the insulin activity. One possible explanation for this unexpected lack of activity might be that the diseased animals exhibit impaired ileal absorption of fluids (25). 

An illustrative example is the work of Clark et al, on the conformation of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) adsorbed on silica 0). These authors determined bound fractions from magnetic resonance experiments. In one instance they added acetone to an aqueous solution of PVP in order to achieve theta conditions for this polymer. They expected to observe an increase in the bound fraction on the basis of solvency effects as predicted by all modern polymer adsorption theory (2-6), but found exactly the opposite effect. Their explanation was plausible, namely that acetone, with ability to adsorb strongly on silica due to its carbonyl group, would be able to partially displace the polymer by competing for the available surface sites. 

Before the explanation of ladder poly silanes is started, ladder compounds of other Group 14 elements are briefly mentioned. Hydrocarbons with a ladder-shaped carbon framework are known as ladderanes. The study on ladderanes goes back to 1927, when bicyclo[2.2.0]hexane ([2]ladderane) was synthesized by the reduction of dy-l,4-dibromocyclohexane with sodium.19 Ladderanes so far reported are tricyclo[4.2.0.02,5]octane ([3]ladderane),20 tetracyclo[4.4.0.02,507,1°]decane21 ([4]ladderane), and a number of their derivatives (Fig. 3). 

Accidently, using hexafluoro-p-xylene with the contaminated copper wire obtained from the precursor method experiments, a polymer film was deposited on the silicon substrates. Obviously, some dibromotetrafluoro-p-xylene from the precursor method that adhered to, or reacted with, the metal could somehow initiate this VDP process. However, a complete explanation of these results is not yet available. As an extension of this discovery, commercially available 1,4-bis(trifluoromethyl)benzene in conjunction with a catalyst/initiator has proved to be a potential alternative by which to deposit poly(tetrafluoro-p-xylylene) film successfully.23... 

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