Polymerization quenching

There are two general methods of ROP of cydosiloxanes. One of them is equilibrium polymerization however, its applicability is limited to those systems where the polymer yidd in equilibrium is relativdy high (see section 4.17.1.1.1(i)). The alternative rcmte is nonequilibrium polymerization, quenched bdore the equilibrium is attained, when the yidd of polymer reaches maximum. ... 

High molecular weight polymers or gums are made from cyclotrisdoxane monomer and base catalyst. In order to achieve a good peroxide-curable gum, vinyl groups are added at 0.1 to 0.6% by copolymerization with methylvinylcyclosiloxanes. Gum polymers have a degree of polymerization (DP) of about 5000 and are useful for manufacture of fluorosiUcone mbber. In order to achieve the gum state, the polymerization must be conducted in a kineticaHy controlled manner because of the rapid depolymerization rate of fluorosiUcone. The expected thermodynamic end point of such a process is the conversion of cyclotrisdoxane to polymer and then rapid reversion of the polymer to cyclotetrasdoxane [429-67 ]. Careful control of the monomer purity, reaction time, reaction temperature, and method for quenching the base catalyst are essential for rehable gum production. 

Polymerizations are typically quenched with water, alcohol, or base. The resulting polymerizates are then distilled and steam and/or vacuum stripped to yield hard resin. Hydrocarbon resins may also be precipitated by the addition of the quenched reaction mixture to an excess of an appropriate poor solvent. As an example, aUphatic C-5 resins are readily precipitated in acetone, while a more polar solvent such as methanol is better suited for aromatic C-9 resins. 

As the polymer molecular weight increases, so does the melt viscosity, and the power to the stirrer drive is monitored so that an end point can be determined for each batch. When the desired melt viscosity is reached, the molten polymer is discharged through a bottom valve, often under positive pressure of the blanketing gas, and extmded as a ribbon or as thick strands which are water-quenched and chopped continuously by a set of mechanical knives. Large amounts of PET are also made by continuous polymerization processes. PBT is made both by batch and continuous polymerization processes (79—81). 

In tbe first attempt to prepare a two-dimensional crystalline polymer (45), Co y-radiation was used to initiate polymerization in monolayers of vinyl stearate (7). Polymerization at the air—water interface was possible but gave a rigid film. The monomeric monolayer was deposited to give X-type layers that could be polymerized in situ This polymerization reaction, quenched by oxygen, proceeds via a free-radical mechanism. 

As-polymerized PVDC does not have a well-defined glass-transition temperature because of its high crystallinity. However, a sample can be melted at 210°C and quenched rapidly to an amorphous state at <—20°C. The amorphous polymer has a glass-transition temperature of — 17°C as shown by dilatometry (70). Glass-transition temperature values of —19 to — 11°C, depending on both method of measurement and sample preparation, have been determined. 

The reaction section consists of the high pressure reactors filled with catalyst, and means to take away or dissipate the high heat of reaction (300-500 Btu/lb of olefin polymerized). In the tubular reactors, the catalyst is inside a multiplicity of tubes which are cooled by a steam-water condensate jacket. Thus, the heat of reaction is utilized to generate high pressure steam. In the chamber process, the catalyst is held in several beds in a drum-type reactor with feed or recycled product introduced as a quench between the individual beds. 

Superheated steam is used to bring the feed to reaction temperature. Reactor effluent is quenched, distilled to remove unreacted feed plus benzene and toluene made during the reaction, and the crude styrene finished by vacuum distillation. Inhibitors are added during the distillation steps to prevent polymerization of the styrene monomer. 

In systems of LP the dynamic response to a temperature quench is characterized by a different mechanism, namely monomer-mediated equilibrium polymerization (MMEP) in which only single monomers may participate in the mass exchange. For this no analytic solution, even in terms of MFA, seems to exist yet [70]. Monomer-mediated equilibrium polymerization (MMEP) is typical of systems like poly(a-methylstyrene) [5-7] in which a reaction proceeds by the addition or removal of a single monomer at the active end of a polymer chain after a radical initiator has been added to the system so as to start the polymerization. The attachment/detachment of single monomers at chain ends is believed to be the mechanism of equilibrium polymerization also for certain liquid sulphur systems [8] as well as for self-assembled aggregates of certain dyes [9] where chain ends are thermally activated radicals with no initiators needed. 

GTP is a safe operation. A runaway polymerization can be quickly quenched with a protonic solvent. Since the group transfer polymerization goes to completion, no unwanted toxic monomer remains the silicone group on the living end after hydroxylation is removed as inactive siloxane. The living polymer in GTP is costlier than traditional polymerization techniques because of the stringent reaction conditions and requirements for pure and dry monomers and solvents. It can be used in fabrication of silicon chips, coating of optical fibers, etc. 

The same high reactivity of radicals that makes possible the alkene polymerization we saw in the previous section also makes it difficult to carry out controlled radical reactions on complex molecules. As a result, there are severe limitations on the usefulness of radical addition reactions in the laboratory. Tn contrast to an electrophilic addition, where reaction occurs once and the reactive cation intermediate is rapidly quenched in the presence of a nucleophile, the reactive intermediate in a radical reaction is not usually quenched, so it reacts again and again in a largely uncontrollable wav. 

In studying two-component polymerization catalysts, beginning with Feldman and Perry (161), a radioactive label was introduced into the growing polymer chain by quenching the polymerization with tritiated alcohols. The use of these quenching agents is based on the concept of the anionic coordination mechanism of olefin polymerization occurring... 

However, in olefin polymerization by two-component catalysts during polymerization not only active transition metal-polymer bonds are formed, but also inactive aluminum-polymer ones, as a result of the transfer process with the participation of a co-catalyst (11, 162-164). The aluminum-polymer bonds are quenched by tritiated alcohol according to the scheme (25), so an additional tagging of the polymer occurs. The use of iodine (165, 166) as a quenching agent also results in decomposing inactive metal-polymer bonds. 

The control of the presence of a label in the polymer after quenching polymerization by the agent chosen. 

Several determinations of the number of propagation centers by the quenching technique have been carried out (98, 111). As a quenching agent methanol, labeled C14 in the alkoxyl group, proved to be suitable in this case. The number of active centers determined by this technique at relatively low polymerization rates (up to 5 X 102 g C2H4/mmole Cr hr at 75° and about 16 kg/cm2) (98, 111, 168) in catalysts on silica was about... 

The number of active centers determined by the quenching technique was dependent on the polymerization temperature (98) that was the reason for the difference between the overall activation energy and the activation energy of the propagation step. 

By quenching the polymerization with C1402 or Cl40 the determination of the number of propagation rate constants was found to be also possible for the two-component catalytic system TiCl2 + AlEt2Cl 158, 159). In contrast to alcohols, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide under polymerization conditions react only with titanium-carbon active bonds and do not react with inactive aluminum-polymer bonds. 

Results of the Determination of the Polymer Radioactivity Obtained at Quenching Polymerization by Differently Labeled Methanol1 ... 

Most radicals are transient species. They (e.%. 1-10) decay by self-reaction with rates at or close to the diffusion-controlled limit (Section 1.4). This situation also pertains in conventional radical polymerization. Certain radicals, however, have thermodynamic stability, kinetic stability (persistence) or both that is conferred by appropriate substitution. Some well-known examples of stable radicals are diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH), nitroxides such as 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-A -oxyl (TEMPO), triphenylniethyl radical (13) and galvinoxyl (14). Some examples of carbon-centered radicals which are persistent but which do not have intrinsic thermodynamic stability are shown in Section 1.4.3.2. These radicals (DPPH, TEMPO, 13, 14) are comparatively stable in isolation as solids or in solution and either do not react or react very slowly with compounds usually thought of as substrates for radical reactions. They may, nonetheless, react with less stable radicals at close to diffusion controlled rates. In polymer synthesis these species find use as inhibitors (to stabilize monomers against polymerization or to quench radical reactions - Section 5,3.1) and as reversible termination agents (in living radical polymerization - Section 9.3). 

The benzoin ethers (75, R-alkyl R H) and the ot-alkyl benzoin derivatives (75, R=H, alkyl R =alkyl) undergo a-scission with sufficient facility that it is not quenched by oxygen or conventional triplet quenchers.276 This means that the initiators might be used for UV-curing in air. Unfortunately, it does not mitigate the usual effects of air as an inhibitor (Section 5.3.2). The products of a-scission (Scheme 3.53) are a benzoyl radical (13) and an ( -substituted benzyl radical (76) both of which may, in principle, initiate polymerization, 76 2"... 

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