Polymer , generally tactic

The chemical structure of a polymer determines whether it will be crystalline or amorphous in the solid state. Both tacticity (i.e., syndio-tactic or isotactic) and geometric isomerism (i.e., trans configuration) favor crystallinity. In general, tactic polymers with their more stereoregular chain structure are more likely to be crystalline than their atactic counterparts. For example, isotactic polypropylene is crystalline, whereas commercial-grade atactic polypropylene is amorphous. Also, cis-pol3nsoprene is amorphous, whereas the more easily packed rans-poly-isoprene is crystalline. In addition to symmetrical chain structures that allow close packing of polymer molecules into crystalline lamellae, specific interactions between chains that favor molecular orientation, favor crystallinity. For example, crystallinity in nylon is enhanced because of... 

PVC usually polymerizes in a head-to-tail arrangement however, a small amount of branching is present in all commercially available PVC resin. The polymerized sequences tend to be atactic, but some syndiotacic sequences can form. These syndio-tactic sequences are believed to be responsible for the regions of crystallinity found in PVC polymers. The amount of crystaUinity present in the PVC polymer generally increases with molecular weight. The molecular weight of the polymer can be controlled by both reaction conditions and reaction time. The ability to control the molecular weight of the polymer enables the manufacture of resins with a wide variety of... 

Generally polymers involve bonding of the most substituted carbon of one monomeric unit to the least substituted carbon atom of the adjacent unit in a head-to-tail arrangement. Substituents appear on alternate carbon atoms. Tacticity refers to the configuration of substituents relative to the backbone axis. In an isotactic arrangement, substituents are on the same plane of the backbone axis that is, the configuration at each chiral center is identical. 

Figure 1.2 shows sections of polymer chains of these three types the substituent R equals phenyl for polystyrene and methyl for polypropylene. The general term for this stereoregularity is tacticity, a term derived from the Greek word meaning to put in order. ... 

There are a few exceptions to this general rule. One of the few examples of an effect on polymer stereochemistry was provided by Dais et al.m who found that polymerization of 31 above the cmc initiated by y-irradiation at 25 °C yields polymer composed entirely of syndiolaclic dyads P(m) =0. When the double bond was distant from the polar head group in 32, the tacticity observed was similar to that observed in solution polymerization / ( )-0,18. Polymerization of 31 at higher temperatures (50 °C) initiated by AIBN also showed no sign of tacticity control. The stcrcospccific polymerization of 31 was attributed to organization of the methacrylate moiety on the surface of the micelle. 

A general methodology has been developed for the treatment of NMR data of polymer mixtures. The methodology is based on reaction probability models and computer optimization methods, resulting in a family of computer programs called MIXCO. The use of MIXCO programs enabled three components to be resolved from NMR tacticity data of fractionated polybutylene. 

RCHgLilg/Cesterlg ratio. A series of structurally related copolymers of the same DP and same tacticity as the polymeric precursor may be obtained. Variations on R allow clean introduction of complex COCI R groups of specific properties (see 4) in a polyme-thacrylic backbone. Generalization of this process to the polyal-kylacrylate series is not possible without simultaneous chain de-... 

Determination of polymer tacticity. The type of tacticity can de determined by X-ray, but there are no generally satisfactory quantitative methods for determining the degree of tacticity. 

The main feature of polymers is their MMD, which is well known and understood today. However, several other properties in which the breadth of distribution are important and influence polymer behavior (see Figure 1) include physical, the classical chain-length distribution chemical, two or more comonomers are incorporated in different fractions topological, polymer architecture may differ (e.g., linear, branched, grafted, cyclic, star or comb-like, and dendritic) structural, comonomer placement may be random, block, alternating, and so on and functional, distribution of chain functions (e.g., all chain ends or only some carry specific groups). Other properties the polymers may disperse (tacticity and crystallite dimensions) are not of the same general interest or cannot be characterized by solution methods. 

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