Polymers cyclic olefin copolymer

With the growing interest for the polynorbomene, photoresist polymer, and cyclic olefin copolymer, the synthesis norbornene or bicyclo[2,2,l]-2-heptene (NBN) has drawn significant attention because it is one of the most important precursor for these materials. Norbornene is produced by the reaction between ethylene and cyclopentadiene (CPD) via the Diels-Alder condensation process at elevated temperature and pressure [1,2]. 

Cyclic olefin-based resists, 15 180 Cyclic olefin copolymers (COCs), 10 180 properties of, 10 181t Cyclic olefin-maleic anhydride (COMA) copolymers, 15 177 Cyclic olefin polymers (COP), 10 180 26 945... 

Cyclic olefin copolymers or cyclic olefin polymers (COC or COP)... 

COC or COP Cyclic Olefin Copolymers or Cyclic Olefin Polymers... 

COP or COC Cyclic Olefin Polymers or Cyclic Olefin Copolymers... 

Cyclic olefin copolymers (COC)s are engineering thermoplastics derived from norbornene. An addition polymer of norbornene was originally described in 1955 (1). 

In our laboratory, polymer CE microchips in combination with EC detection have been successfully used as miniaturised devices for determination of clinically important analytes. As commented in Section 34.1.2, poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) is one of the most used polymers for manufacturing microchips. Recently, cyclic olefin copolymers (COCs) such as Topas (thermoplastic olefin polymer of amorphous... 

Early transition metal catalysts such as vanadium complexes and zirconocenes effectively copolymerize ethene with norbornene [81]. This capabihty eventually led to the commercial development of the APEL and TOPAS line of cyclic olefin copolymers by Mitsui and Ticona (formerly Hoechst), respectively [82]. Interest in this class of polymers is due to its high glass transition temperatures and transparency that is imparted by the norbornene component. 

The most widely used material for fabrication of microfluidic systems, and hence also microfluidic cell culture chips, is PDMS, which in many systems is utilized in combination with glass. PDMS is fabrication wise well suited for prototyping, whereas it is not in the same degree amenable to mass reproduction. A new emerging trend is, however, fabrication using thermoplastic polymers, such as pol5miethylmethacrylate (PMMA), cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) and polycarbonate (PC), which can be used for... 

Strategy A was later applied for tailoring the surface of cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), a transparent polymer of high technological importance. Microfluidic chips made from COC were modified with hydrophilic poly[poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate] grafts, which allowed to reduce nonspecific protein adsorption substantially [15]. 

Cyclic olefin copolymers (COC) are copolymers of ethylene and norbornene (2,2,1 bicycloheptane), made using metallocene catalysts. They are amorphous polymers with excellent clarity, low density, high strength, and stiffness. Currently the major manufacturer is Ticona, which sells them under the trade name Topas. 

As shown in Figure 20.11, the microstructures are transferred from the master to the polymer by stamping the master into the polymer, which is previously softened by heating above its glass transition temperature. This method is limited to thermoplastic polymers, and the technique has been used successfully on a variety of polymers, including polycarbonate,i polyimide, cyclic olefin copolymer, and PMMA. The main parameters to control are the surface quality, temperature uniformity, and chemical compatibility of the master. 

The first group consists of amorphous thermoplastic engineering polymers. These are cyclic olefin polymers (COP) or cyclic olefin copolymers (COC) with ethylene. They were commercialized, for example, as Zeonex (in 1991) and Zeonar (by Zeon), as Topas (Polyplastics), Apel (Mitsui), and Alton (JSR). Topas was originally part of Ticona, before it was sold to Daicel in 2005. A Topas plant with a capacity of 30,000 tpa started up in Oberhausen, Germany, in September 2000. Until that time, world capacity from 4 pilot-scale plants was around 10,000 tpa. 

Typical plastics, including polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC), cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), polysulfone (PSU), polyetheretherketone (PEEK), liquid crystal polymers (LCP), polystyrene(PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), etc., have been used for microfluidics. COC is the most commonly used polymer, accounting for around 80 % of all applications, because of its good optical properties [2]. 

Wu, T.-M. and Wu, C.-W. 2005. Surface characterization and properties of plasma-modified cyclic olefin copolymer/layered silicate nanocomposites, lournal of Polymer Science. Part B ... 

Cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) is an amorphous polyolefin made by reaction of ethylene and nor-bornene in varying ratios. Its structure is shown in Figure 7.60. The properties can be customized by changing the ratio of the monomers found in the polymer. Being amorphous it is transparent. Other performance benefits include ... 

TOPAS cyclic olefin copolymer. Topas Advanced Polymers 2006. 

Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate Cyclic Olefin Copolymer Polyethylene Chlorotrifluoroethylene Polyethylene Tetrafluoroethylene Ethylene Vinyl Acetate Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene High Density Polyethylene High Performance Polyamide Liquid Crystalline Polymer Low Density Polyethylene Linear Low Density Polyethylene Medium Density Polyethylene Polyamide (Nylon)... 

Cyclic olefin copolymers are a new class of polymeric materials based on cyclic olefin monomers (as 8,9,10-trinorbom-2-ene) and ethene. These materials are also known as cyclic olefin polymers (COP) when only one single type of cyclic olefin monomer is applied. COC is very transparent, the optical properties are in many ways similar to glass. COC is one of the few transparent polymeric materials able to withstand steam sterilisation. Permeability... 

A polymer is a material composed of large macromolecules. These macromolecules are formed by chains of hundreds or thousands of connected (polymerized) monomer molecules. The three main classes of polymers are thermoplastics, elastomers and thermosets. They differ in the degree of cross-linking of their macromolecules -from no cross-linking (thermoplastics) to moderate cross-linking (elastomers, rubbers) to high cross-linking (thermosets). Thermoplastics commonly used in microfluidics include materials like polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or cyclic olefin copolymers (COC). Silicones (like poly-dimethylsiloxane, PDMS) are a typical class of elastomers. Thermosets include photoresist materials like SU-8 and others. 

After Kaminsky, Brintzinger, and Ewen discovered homogeneous metallocene/ methylaluminoxane (MAO) catalysts for stereospecific a-olefin polymerizatiOTi (for reviews on olefin polymerization, see [13-21]), the first report [22, 23] rai addition cycloolefin polymerization without ROMP appeared. This stimulated a great interest in these polymers and in catalysts for cycloolefin polymerization (Fig. 1). Cycloolefins such as cyclopentene, cyclooctene, and norbomene can be polymerized via addition (Fig. 2). Polycycloolefins by metallocenes are difficult to process due to their high melting points and their low solubility in common organic solvents. However, metallocenes allow the synthesis of cyclic olefin copolymers (COC), especially of cyclopentene and norbomene with ethene or propene, which represent a new class of thermoplastic amorphous materials (Scheme 1) [24, 25]. 

Ethylene/norbornene copolymers are presently available commercially from TOPAS Advanced Polymers, Inc., a company formed in 2006 after early development efforts by Hoechst AG and Mitsui Petrochemical. Hoechst initiated the commercialization of this cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) in 1990, and Mitsui Petrochemical became involved in evaluating the manufacture of these copolymers in a continuous pilot-scale operation in 1993. TOPAS Advanced Polymers, Inc., is a joint venture of Daicel Chemical Industries Ltd., and Polyplastics Co., Ltd., with headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, and a United States subsidiary in Florence, Kentucky. The structure of this copolymer is shown in Figure 4.26. 

Several biocompatible polymers are known and used for device fabrication. The most commonly used materials are poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), Cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). 

The mass-production of microfluidic devices must be done in a reliable manner. In this study, toolings used to reproduce microfluidic features on cyclic-olefin-copolymer (COC) and polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) polymers by amorphous metallic alloy and silicon inserts were compared. Both toolings were used in micro injection molding. Findings indicate that the alloy was mechanically more suitable as mold inserts, whereas silicon had better surface roughness. COC samples showed comparable geometrical replication of microfluidic features compared to PMMA. 

Borosihcate glass is used for producing microfluidic chips [2], It possessed the necessary chemical stability, optical clarity and could be easily processed with current manufacturing techniques. Current trends point towards the use of polymers [3] such as cyclic-olefin-copolymers (COC) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). The reason is that these polymers possess similar or even more superior properties than glass. COCs are particularly favored for their environmental-friendliness and near-glass optical transparency. 

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