Polymers chain growth mechanism

Classification based on polymer chain growth mechanism results in... 

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. 

Fig. 3. Monometallic mechanism of formation for polymer chain growth on transitionmetal catalyst, where (D) represents a coordination vacancy.

To explain the formation of non-crosslinked polymers from the diallyl quaternary ammonium system, Butler and Angelo proposed a chain growth mechanism which involved a series of intra- and inter-molecular propagation steps (15). This type of polymerization was subsequently shown to occur in a wide variety of symmetrical diene systems which cyclize to form five or six-membered ring structures. This mode of propagation of a non-conjugated diene with subsequent ring formation was later called cyclopolymerization. 

The choice of one polymerization method over another is defined by the type of monomer and the desired properties of the polymer. Table 2.1 lists advantages and disadvantages of the different chain growth mechanisms. Table 2.2 summarizes some well known addition polymers and the methods by which they can be polymerized. 

The addition of heat shifts the equilibrium concentrations away from the products and back towards the reactants, the monomers. This is one reason why processing these types of polymers is often more difficult than processing products of chain growth mechanisms. The thermal degradation process can be dramatically accelerated by the presence of the low molecular weight condensation products such as water. Polyester, as an example, can depolymerize rapidly if processed in the presence of absorbed or entrained water. 

The first type, termed sequential IPN s, involves the preparation of a crosslinked polymer I, a subsequent swelling of monomer II components and polymerization of the monomer II in situ. The second type of synthesis yields materials known as simultaneous interpenetrating networks (SIN s), involves the mixing of all components in an early stage, followed by the formation of both networks via independent reactions proceeding in the same container (10,11). One network can be formed by a chain growth mechanism and the other by a step growth mechanism. 

This results in strong polarization of the n bond and dissociation of the Ti—C bond, thus promoting insertion into the activator aluminum-alkyl bond. Repetitive insertions of alkene molecules result in lengthening of the polymer chain. This mechanism is also termed bimetallic after the growth center complex species 44. 

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. 

In addition to post-functionalizing polymers by bonding the macrocycle to the preformed polymer backbone, macrocycles can be incorporated into polymer matrices by direct polymerization of the macrocycle, either by a step-growth mechanism or a chain-growth mechanism. [46] Polymeric crown ether stationary phases were pioneered by Blasius et al. [34, 59-62] These resins were used to separate both cations (including protonated amines) with a common anion, and anions with a common cation in high... 

Table 2-2 lists the common names and structures of a few chain-growth polymers. For each of these the common name of the homopolymer and its repeat unit are also shown. Two examples of copolymers are also provided. The subscripts m and n indicate only the total number of repeat units of each monomer not the arrangement in the copolymer. In other words, these are presumed to be random, not block, copolymers. All of the monomers in Table 2, a and b, polymerize by addition to a carbon-carbon double bond by a chain-growth mechanism. 

It is important to appreciate that polymer produced by an anionic chain-growth mechanism can have drastically different properties from one made by a normal free radical reaction. Block copolymers can be synthesized in which each block has different properties. We mentioned in Chapter 4 that Michael Szwdrc of Syracuse University developed this chemistry in the 1950s. Since that time, block copolymers produced by anionic polymerization have been commercialized, such as styrene-isoprene-styrene and styrene-butadiene-styrene triblock copolymers (e.g., Kraton from Shell Chemical Company). They find use as thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), polymers that act as elastomers at normal temperatures but which can be molded like thermoplastics when heated. We will discuss TPEs further in Chapter 7. 

Many alkenes form addition polymers under the right conditions. The chain-growth mechanism involves addition of the reactive end of the growing chain across the double bond of the alkene monomer. Depending on the conditions and the structure of the monomer, the reactive intermediates may be carbocations, free radicals, or carbanions. 

The less ambiguous classification is based on the polymerization mechanism, which can be either chain growth or step (nonchain) growth. In the latter case, a given functional group has similar if not identical reactivity, whether it is in the monomer or at the polymer chain end. In a chain growth mechanism, only monomer adds to the active species at the growing chain end i.e., two monomer molecules will not react with each other. 

Cp2TiCl2 has been assessed as additive that controls polymer chain growth in the polymerization of methyl methacrylate.1224 Methyl methacrylate is easily polymerized in the photopolymerization with Cp2TiCl2 in a water-methanol mixture under irradiation of a 15 W fluorescent room lamp. The polymerization proceeded heterogeneously.1225 This process in the presence of 2,2 -bipyridyl, 1,10-phenanthroline, or sparteine as the chelating reagent has been studied.1226 Similar studies on the polymerization of methacrylate monomers such as methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, phenyl methacrylate, and benzyl methacrylate at 40 °C have also been performed.1227 The results of co-polymerization of methyl methacrylate and acrylonitrile indicate that this process proceeds through a radical mechanism.1228 The mechanism of the controlled radical polymerization of styrene and methyl methacrylate in the... 

Scheme 7.4 Schematic representation of the chain growth mechanisms of various metal-mediated polymerizations (R and Ar/Af = growing polymer chain. X= halogen).

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