Radical chain polymerization Monomer reactivity ratio

For any specific type of initiation (i.e., radical, cationic, or anionic) the monomer reactivity ratios and therefore the copolymer composition equation are independent of many reaction parameters. Since termination and initiation rate constants are not involved, the copolymer composition is independent of differences in the rates of initiation and termination or of the absence or presence of inhibitors or chain-transfer agents. Under a wide range of conditions the copolymer composition is independent of the degree of polymerization. The only limitation on this generalization is that the copolymer be a high polymer. Further, the particular initiation system used in a radical copolymerization has no effect on copolymer composition. The same copolymer composition is obtained irrespective of whether initiation occurs by the thermal homolysis of initiators such as AIBN or peroxides, redox, photolysis, or radiolysis. Solvent effects on copolymer composition are found in some radical copolymerizations (Sec. 6-3a). Ionic copolymerizations usually show significant effects of solvent as well as counterion on copolymer composition (Sec. 6-4). 

The parameters rA and rs are known as monomer reactivity ratios representing the ratio of rate constants for a radical to add to its own type polymer vs. rate constants for a radical to add to the other type polymer. When kAA = 0 and ksB = 0, it can be seen that rA = 0, re = 0, and each radical reacts exclusively with the other monomer. Rel. (2.3.20) is then reduced to d[P ]/d[P ] = 1, and the monomers alternate regularly along the chain of the copolymer, regardless of the composition of the monomer feed (an excess of one monomer may remain unreacted). This is an ideal case, but copolymers such as that made from (a) styrene and (b) diethyl fumarate (rA = 0.3, re = 0.07) can be close to the ideal case. The styrene/diethyl fumarate polymerization has the tendency to lead to an azeotropic copolymer with 57 mole percent styrene, regardless the feed composition. When the initial composition of the monomers is different from 57 mole percent, the alt-copolymer is formed until one of the materials is finished and the remaining monomer forms a homopolymer. 

A mixture of two monomers that can be homopo-lymerized by a metal catalyst can be copolymerized as in conventional radical systems. In fact, various pairs of methacrylates, acrylates, and styrenes have been copolymerized by the metal catalysts in random or statistical fashion, and the copolymerizations appear to also have the characteristics of a living process. The monomer reactivity ratio and sequence distributions of the comonomer units, as discussed already, seem very similar to those in the conventional free radical systems, although the detailed analysis should be awaited as described above. Apart from the mechanistic study (section II.F.3), the metal-catalyzed systems afford random or statistical copolymers of controlled molecular weights and sharp MWDs, where, because of the living nature, there are almost no differences in composition distribution in each copolymer chain in a single sample, in sharp contrast to conventional random copolymers, in which there is a considerable compositional distribution from chain to chain. Figure 26 shows the random copolymers thus prepared by the metal-catalyzed living radical polymerizations. 

When one reactivity ratio is greater than unity and the other is less than unity, either propagating species will prefer to add monomers of the first type. Relatively long sequences of this monomer will thus be formed if the reactivity ratios differ sufficiently. A special situation arises when ri 1 and T2 1 or vice versa. In this case, the product composition will tend toward that of the homopolymer of the more reactive monomer. Such reactivity ratios refiect the existence of an impractical copolymerization. An example of this type of behavior is the radical chain polymerization of styrene-vinyl acetate system, where monomer reactivity ratios of 55 and 0.01 are observed. The large differences between the monomer reactivity ratios imparts a tendency toward consecutive homopolymerization of the two monomers. For example, when ri 1 and T2 1, both and... 

Random copolymers of styrene/isoprene and styrene/acrylonitrile have been prepared by stable free radical polymerization. By varying the comonomer mole fractions over the range 0.1-0.9 in low conversion SFRP reactions it has been demonstrated that the incorporation of the two monomers in the copolymer is analogous to that found in conventional free radical copolymerizations. The composition and microstructure of random copolymers prepared by SFRP are not significantly different from those of copolymers synthesized conventionally. These two observations support the conclusion that the presence of nitroxide in the SFR process does not influence the monomer reactivity ratios or the stereoselectivity of the propagating radical chain. Rather, the SFR propagation mechanism is essentially the same as that of the conventional free radical copolymerization process. 

Modeling the copolymerization on a computer completes this correlation between Px and the reactivity ratio. In this model, one million chains that are 2,000 monomers long are synthesized. The composition of the monomer pool is initially set to 50% of each monomer. 1000 chains are grown simultaneously and then repeated until 1 x 106 chains are created. This is meant to account for the broad initiation times that may occur in free radical polymerizations. The reactivity ratios of the monomer pairs as well as the composition of the remaining monomer pool control the evolution of the sequence and composition distributions of the copolymer chain. The probability, PAAthat a monomer A will add to the growing chain that ends in an A. monomer radical is... 

Copolymers are made to produce unique or functional properties in the polymeric product. The properties of step copolymers can be understood and, in some cases, predicted from an analysis of the chain length and functional groups in the monomers. The composition and composition-dependent properties of a free radical, chain reaction copolymer can be predicted from monomer reactivity ratios, a property first correctly quantified in 1944 (11-14). These ratios have been extensively measured and tabulated (15). They allow, by use of differential equations, the calculation of the monomer content in a copolymer as a function of time during the reaction. Reactivity ratios have also been measured for cationic chain reactions (16). Anionic chain reactions in monomer mixtures are generally so fast and indiscriminate that reactivity ratios are meaningless. 

Copolymerization. Acrylic and methacrylic acids readily copolymerize free radically with many vinyl monomers. This versatility results from a combination of their highly reactive double bonds and their miscibility with a wide variety of water- and solvent-soluble monomers. Reactivity ratios derived from copolymerizations with many monomers are tabulated in many books on polymerization, for example in Wiley s Polymer Handbook (14) (see also Wiley s Database of Polymer Properties). Q and e values are parameters that may be established for a monomer based on a large number of reactivity ratios with other monomers. These parameters are associated with interactions between the monomer and the growing chain via resonance (Q) and polar effects (e). 

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. 

An example of a commercial semibatch polymerization process is the early Union Carbide process for Dynel, one of the first flame-retardant modacryhc fibers (23,24). Dynel, a staple fiber that was wet spun from acetone, was introduced in 1951. The polymer is made up of 40% acrylonitrile and 60% vinyl chloride. The reactivity ratios for this monomer pair are 3.7 and 0.074 for acrylonitrile and vinyl chloride in solution at 60°C. Thus acrylonitrile is much more reactive than vinyl chloride in this copolymerization. In addition, vinyl chloride is a strong chain-transfer agent. To make the Dynel composition of 60% vinyl chloride, the monomer composition must be maintained at 82% vinyl chloride. Since acrylonitrile is consumed much more rapidly than vinyl chloride, if no control is exercised over the monomer composition, the acrylonitrile content of the monomer decreases to approximately 1% after only 25% conversion. The low acrylonitrile content of the monomer required for this process introduces yet another problem. That is, with an acrylonitrile weight fraction of only 0.18 in the unreacted monomer mixture, the low concentration of acrylonitrile becomes a rate-limiting reaction step. Therefore, the overall rate of chain growth is low and under normal conditions, with chain transfer and radical recombination, the molecular weight of the polymer is very low. 

In contrast to ionic chain polymerizations, free radical polymerizations offer a facile route to copolymers ([9] p. 459). The ability of monomers to undergo copolymerization is described by the reactivity ratios, which have been tabulated for many monomer systems for a tabulation of reactivity ratios, see Section 11/154 in Brandrup and Immergut [14]. These tabulations must be used with care, however, as reactivity ratios are not always calculated in an optimum manner [15]. Systems in which one reactivity ratio is much greater than one (1) and the other is much less than one indicate poor copolymerization. Such systems form a mixture of homopolymers rather than a copolymer. Uncontrolled phase separation may take place, and mechanical properties can suffer. An important ramification of the ease of forming copolymers will be discussed in Section 3.1. 

Certain monomers may act as inhibitors in some circumstances. Reactivity ratios for VAc-S copolymerization (r< 0.02, rVu -2.3) and rates of cross propagation are such that small amounts of S are an effective inhibitor of VAc polymerization. The propagating chain with a terminal VAc is very active towards S and adds even when S is present in small amounts. The propagating radical with S adds to VAc only slowly. Other vinyl aromatics also inhibit VAc polymerization.174... 

The polymerization of a mixture of more than one monomer leads to copolymers if two monomers are involved and to terpolymers in the case of three monomers. At low conversions, the composition of the polymer that forms from just two monomers depends on the reactivity of the free radical formed from one monomer toward the other monomer or the free radical chain of the second monomer as well as toward its own monomer and its free radical chain. As the process continues, the monomer composition changes continually and the nature of the monomer distribution in the polymer chains changes. It is beyond the scope of this laboratory manual to discuss the complexity of reactivity ratios in copolymerization. It should be pointed out that the formation of terpolymers is even more complex from the theoretical standpoint. This does not mean that such terpolymers cannot be prepared and applied to practical situations. In fact, Experiment 5 is an example of the preparation of a terpolymer latex that has been suggested for use as an exterior protective coating. 

One potential problem with conventional free-radical copolymerization is that the reactivity ratios of the two monomers tend to be different from one another [6]. On one hand this leads to non-random sequences of the monomers on a single chain (usually the product of the reactivity ratios is less than one so that there is a tendency to form alternating sequences) and, on the other, to substantial composition drift if the polymerization is carried out in bulk to high conversions. Random copolymers with a range of compositions as a result of composition drift may however be useful in practice, allowing a compositionally graded interface to be formed. 

A combination of variables controls the outcome of the copolymerization of two or more unsaturated monomers by CCT free-radical polymerization.382 Of course, all of the features that control the outcome of a normal free-radical polymerization come into effect.40 426 429 These include the molar ratio of monomers, their relative reactivity ratios and their normal chain-transfer constants, the polymerization temperature, and the conversion. In the presence of a CCT catalyst, the important variables also include their relative CCT chain-transfer constants and the concentration of the Co chain-transfer agent. The combination of all of these features controls the molecular weight of the polymer and the nature of the vinyl end group. In addition, they can also control the degree of branching of the product. 

Compilations of reactivity ratios for various pairs of monomers in radical polymerization have been provided by Eastmond [131] and Odian [132], The reactivity ratios for pairs of given monomers can be very different for the different types of chain-growth copolymerization radical, anionic, cationic, and coordination copolymerization. Although the copolymer equation is valid for each of them, the copolymer composition can depend strongly on the mode of initiation (see Figure 11.8). 

---