Polymerization chain propagation mechanism

Analogous principles should apply to ionically propagated polymerizations. The terminus of the growing chain, whether cation or anion, can be expected to exhibit preferential addition to one or the other carbon of the vinyl group. Poly isobutylene, normally prepared by cationic polymerization, possesses the head-to-tail structure, as already mentioned. Polystyrenes prepared by cationic or anionic polymerization are not noticeably different from free-radical-poly-merized products of the same molecular weights, which fact indicates a similar chain structure irrespective of the method of synthesis. In the polymerization of 1,3-dienes, however, the structure and arrangement of the units depends markedly on the chain-propagating mechanism (see Sec. 2b). 

DFT calculations combined with molecular mechanics methods have been used to study the first (R = Me) and the second (R = propyl) insertion of the ethylene monomer into the Ti-R bond of (CpSiMe2NBut)(R)Ti(/t-Me)B(C6F5)3. The influence of the counterion and the solvent effects on the energetic profile of the polymerization have been evaluated. Theoretical investigations have also been directed at mechanistic aspects of olefin polymerizations catalyzed by mono-Cp titanium complexes. The chain propagation mechanism, the chain termination and... 

In plasma state polymerization, the polymer is formed by the repeated stepwise reaction described above. It should be noted that plasma-induced polymerization does not produce a gas phase by-product, because the polymerization proceeds via the utilization of a polymerizable structure. The process can be schematically represented by tiie following chain propagation mechanism ... 

From the Ah-NMR analysis of poly(3,8-d2-styrene oxide) obtained using ZnEt2/H20 as initiator Figure 2), the formation of the partly crystalline fraction can be described by first order Markov statistics, while that for the amorphous fraction follows Bemoulllan statistics. Different chain propagation mechanisms are, therefore, responsible for the formation of the two different polymer fractions obtained from this particular catalyst. Consequently, the existence of two different active centers, responsible for the two polymerization mechanisms and for formation of fractions I and II, are clearly indicated. 

Polymerization reactions are classified in two categories, which discriminate different chain propagation mechanisms propagation by monomer combination and such by polymer combination. The latter is represented by polyaddition and polycondensation reactions, while the classical representative of the former is radical polymerization. 

Propagation. Since chain polymerization kinetics are usually followed for free radically photoinitiated polymerizations, the propagation mechanism involves the addition of monomer to the growing polymer chain ... 

Plasma-induced polymerization may be schematically represented by a chain propagation mechanism as follows ... 

Polyepichlorohydrin is manufactured by a continuous solution polymerization process using aluminum-based catalysts with base monomers of epichlorohydrin (ECH), ethylene oxide (EO), and AGE. A cationic coordination mechanism is suggested as the chain propagation mechanism. The commercial polymer is 97%-99% head-to-taU and has been shown to be stereo random and atactic. The CO, GCO, ECO, and GECO polymers are amorphous and linear [1]. 

Polypropylene polymerized with triethyl aluminum and titanium trichloride has been found to contain various kinds of chain ends. Both terminal vinylidene unsaturation and aluminum-bound chain ends have been identified. Propose two termination reactions which can account for these observations. Do the termination reactions allow any discrimination between the monometallic and bimetallic propagation mechanisms ... 

Chain-Growth Associative Thickeners. Preparation of hydrophobically modified, water-soluble polymer in aqueous media by a chain-growth mechanism presents a unique challenge in that the hydrophobically modified monomers are surface active and form micelles (50). Although the initiation and propagation occurs primarily in the aqueous phase, when the propagating radical enters the micelle the hydrophobically modified monomers then polymerize in blocks. In addition, the hydrophobically modified monomer possesses a different reactivity ratio (42) than the unmodified monomer, and the composition of the polymer chain therefore varies considerably with conversion (57). The most extensively studied monomer of this class has been acrylamide, but there have been others such as the modification of PVAlc. Pyridine (58) was one of the first chain-growth polymers to be hydrophobically modified. This modification is a post-polymerization alkylation reaction and produces a random distribution of hydrophobic units. 

The free-radical polymerization of acrylic monomers follows a classical chain mechanism in which the chain-propagation step entails the head-to-tail growth of the polymeric free radical by attack on the double bond of the monomer. 

Epichlorohydrin Elastomers without AGE. Polymerization on a commercial scale is done as either a solution or slurry process at 40—130°C in an aromatic, ahphatic, or ether solvent. Typical solvents are toluene, benzene, heptane, and diethyl ether. Trialkylaluniinum-water and triaLkylaluminum—water—acetylacetone catalysts are employed. A cationic, coordination mechanism is proposed for chain propagation. The product is isolated by steam coagulation. Polymerization is done as a continuous process in which the solvent, catalyst, and monomer are fed to a back-mixed reactor. Pinal product composition of ECH—EO is determined by careful control of the unreacted, or background, monomer in the reactor. In the manufacture of copolymers, the relative reactivity ratios must be considered. The reactivity ratio of EO to ECH has been estimated to be approximately 7 (35—37). 

The data also bear on the validity of the two models that have been proposed to describe the mechanism of ionic chain propagation in the gas phase. In review, Lampe, Franklin, and Field (23) have proposed that the polymerization proceeds through the reactions of long-lived, undissociated, intermediate reaction complexes,... 

Based on the above results and previous works [3,9] on the reaction of epoxides and CO2, we tentatively propose the plausible mechanism for the copolymerization of GMA and CO2 (schane 1), Alkyhnethyl imidazolim salt (QX) and epoxide (GMA) r cted to synthesize an active spedes followed by chain propagation involving a < ncerted insertion of th e epoxide. However, more detailed mechanistic studies are needed to clairly understand the polymerization steps. 

If the chains are long, the composition of the copolymer and the arrangement oi units along the chain are determined almost entirely by the relative rates of the various chain propagation reactions. On the other hand, the rate of polymerization depends not only on the rates of these propagation steps but also on the rates of the termination reactions. Copolymer composition has received far more attention than has the rate of copolymerization. The present section will be confined to consideration of the composition of copolymers formed by a free radical mechanism. 

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