Polyisoprene process

Natural rubber, cis-1,4-polyisoprene, cross-linked with sulfur. This reaction was discovered by Goodyear in 1839, making it both historically and commercially the most important process of this type. This reaction in particular and crosslinking in general are also called vulcanization. 

From the time that isoprene was isolated from the pyrolysis products of natural mbber (1), scientific researchers have been attempting to reverse the process. In 1879, Bouchardat prepared a synthetic mbbery product by treating isoprene with hydrochloric acid (2). It was not until 1954—1955 that methods were found to prepare a high i i -polyisoprene which dupHcates the stmcture of natural mbber. In one method (3,4) a Ziegler-type catalyst of tri alkyl aluminum and titanium tetrachloride was used to polymerize isoprene in an air-free, moisture-free hydrocarbon solvent to an all i7j -l,4-polyisoprene. A polyisoprene with 90% 1,4-units was synthesized with lithium catalysts as early as 1949 (5). 

With the avadabihty of polymerization catalysts, extensive efforts were devoted to developing economical processes for manufacture of isoprene. Several synthetic routes have been commercialized. With natural mbber as an alternative, the ultimate value of the polymer was more or less dictated by that market. The first commercial use of isoprene in the United States started in 1940. It was used as a minor comonomer with isobutylene for the preparation of butyl mbber. Polyisoprene was commercialized extensively in the 1960s (6). In the 1990s isoprene is used almost exclusively as a monomer for polymerization (see ELASTOLffiRS,SYNTHETic-POLYisoPRENE). 

Free-Radical Polymerization. The best method for polymerising isoprene by a free-radical process is emulsion polymerisation. Using potassium persulfate [7727-21-1] as initiator at 50°C, a 75% conversion to polyisoprene in 15 h was obtained (76). A typical emulsion polymerisation recipe is given as follows (77). 

The rubber polyisoprene is a natural polymer. So, too, are cellulose and lignin, the main components of wood and straw, and so are proteins like wool or silk. We use cellulose in vast quantities as paper and (by treating it with nitric acid) we make celluloid and cellophane out of it. But the vast surplus of lignin left from wood processing, or available in straw, cannot be processed to give a useful polymer. If it could, it... 

The study of acid-base interaction is an important branch of interfacial science. These interactions are widely exploited in several practical applications such as adhesion and adsorption processes. Most of the current studies in this area are based on calorimetric studies or wetting measurements or peel test measurements. While these studies have been instrumental in the understanding of these interfacial interactions, to a certain extent the interpretation of the results of these studies has been largely empirical. The recent advances in the theory and experiments of contact mechanics could be potentially employed to better understand and measure the molecular level acid-base interactions. One of the following two experimental procedures could be utilized (1) Polymers with different levels of acidic and basic chemical constitution can be coated on to elastomeric caps, as described in Section 4.2.1, and the adhesion between these layers can be measured using the JKR technique and Eqs. 11 or 30 as appropriate. For example, poly(p-amino styrene) and poly(p-hydroxy carbonyl styrene) can be coated on to PDMS-ox, and be used as acidic and basic surfaces, respectively, to study the acid-base interactions. (2) Another approach is to graft acidic or basic macromers onto a weakly crosslinked polyisoprene or polybutadiene elastomeric networks, and use these elastomeric networks in the JKR studies as described in Section 4.2.1. 

Other polymers used in the PSA industry include synthetic polyisoprenes and polybutadienes, styrene-butadiene rubbers, butadiene-acrylonitrile rubbers, polychloroprenes, and some polyisobutylenes. With the exception of pure polyisobutylenes, these polymer backbones retain some unsaturation, which makes them susceptible to oxidation and UV degradation. The rubbers require compounding with tackifiers and, if desired, plasticizers or oils to make them tacky. To improve performance and to make them more processible, diene-based polymers are typically compounded with additional stabilizers, chemical crosslinkers, and solvents for coating. Emulsion polymerized styrene butadiene rubbers (SBRs) are a common basis for PSA formulation [121]. The tackified SBR PSAs show improved cohesive strength as the Mooney viscosity and percent bound styrene in the rubber increases. The peel performance typically is best with 24—40% bound styrene in the rubber. To increase adhesion to polar surfaces, carboxylated SBRs have been used for PSA formulation. Blends of SBR and natural rubber are commonly used to improve long-term stability of the adhesives. 

Figure 12-8. A process for producing 1,4-polyisoprene (>99%) by a continuous soiution poiymerization. ...

Used tires create serious environmental problems, because they do not degrade easily and they release noxious contaminants when they bum. Recently, a process has been developed that breaks tires down into a polyisoprene oil that can then be further decomposed into limonene. The yield of limonene is only a few percent, but if this process can be made more efficient it may become possible to turn ugly, smelly old tires into fragrant oil of lemon. 

Successive 1,4 units in the synthetic polyisoprene chain evidently are preponderantly arranged in head-to-tail sequence, although an appreciable proportion of head-to-head and tail-to-tail junctions appears to be present as well. Apparently the growing radical adds preferentially to one of the two ends of the monomer. Which of the reactions (6) or (7) is the preferred process cannot be decided from these results alone, however. Positive identification of both 1,2 and 3,4 units in the infrared spectrum shows that both addition reactions take place during the polymerization of isoprene. The relative contributions of the alternative addition processes cannot be ascertained from the proportions of these two units, however, inasmuch as the product radicals formed in reactions (6) and (7), may differ markedly in their preference for addition in one or the other of the two resonance forms available to each. We may conclude merely that structural evidence indicates a preference for oriented (i.e., head-to-tail) additions but that the 1,4 units of synthetic polyisoprene are by no means as consistently arranged in head-to-tail sequence as in the naturally occurring poly-isoprenes. 

While free radical attack in step (i) is by no means confined to carbon atom 4, the products obtained in the reactions involving the lower polyisoprenes indicate that this process is the dominant one. Likewise in step (ii) sulfur may frequently add at carbon atom 4 rather than at atom 2. Addition in the manner shown is indicated, however, by infrared spectra, which reveal the formation of —CH=CH— groups during vulcanization. The scheme accounts also for the observed constancy of the C/H ratio during vulcanization and for the relatively low efficiency of utilization of sulfur in the formation of cross-linkages in the absence of accelerators. A preponderance of the sulfur is involved in addition without formation of cross-linkages a considerable fraction of the thus-combined sulfur may occur in five- and six-membered heterocyclic rings formed by the mechanisms indicated. 

Improvement in the processing and vulcanized qualities of a range of systems have been reported over the past decades. Modification of natural rubber, due to work in the British Rubber Producers Research Association, yields some of the most striking applications of microgel. A detailed study at the MV Lomonosov Institute of Fine Chemical Technology, in Moscow, on the effect of microgels on mechanical properties of cis-polyisoprene and butadiene-styrene rubbers extensively illustrates the properties of blends from latex combination of microgel and conventional or linear systems.(31)... 

Cyclized polyisoprene has been used as a photoresist by being sensitized with bisazides(1-3). Recently, H.Harada et al. have reported that a partially cyclized 1,2-polybutadiene showed good properties as a practical photoresist material in reproducing submicron patterns (U ). S.Shimazu et al, have studied the photochemical cleavage of 2,6-di(h -azidobenzal)cyclohexanone in a cyclized polyisoprene rubber matrix, and have reported that the principal photoreaction is the simultaneous cleavage of the both azido groups by absorption of a single photon with a U3% quantum yield(5 ). Their result does not support the biphotonic process in the photolysis of bisazide proposed by A.Reiser et al.(6 ). 

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