Radical polymerization isotactic

The isotactic form of propylene has better physical and mechanical properties than the three tactic form mixture (obtained from free radical polymerization). Isotactic polypropylene, in which all of the stereo cen-... 

Commercial polystyrene is manufactured only by free-radical polymerization. Isotactic polystyrene formed with Ziegler-Natta catalysts was introduced conunercially in the sixties, but failed to gain acceptance. 

Fox and Schneckof carried out the free-radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate between -40 and 250 C. By analysis of the a-methyl peaks in the NMR spectra of the products, they determined the following values of a, the probability of an isotactic placement in the products prepared at the different temperatures ... 

The nmr spectmm of PVAc iu carbon tetrachloride solution at 110°C shows absorptions at 4.86 5 (pentad) of the methine proton 1.78 5 (triad) of the methylene group and 1.98 5, 1.96 5, and 1.94 5, which are the resonances of the acetate methyls iu isotactic, heterotactic, and syndiotactic triads, respectively. Poly(vinyl acetate) produced by normal free-radical polymerization is completely atactic and noncrystalline. The nmr spectra of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers have also been obtained (33). The ir spectra of the copolymers of vinyl acetate differ from that of the homopolymer depending on the identity of the comonomers and their proportion. 

Polypropylene made by free-radical polymerization is generally atactic , that is to say, there is no pattern to the stereochemistry. On the other hand, both isotactic polypropylene (in which all the stereocenters are the same) and syndiotactic polypropylene (in which the stereocenters alternate) may be made via the Ziegler-Natta process (see Chapter 18, Problem 4). Experimentally, both isotactic and syndiotactic polypropylene generally have higher melting points than atactic polypropylene. 

Most polymers formed by radical polymerization have an excess of syndiotactic over isotactic dyads [i.e, < 0.5]. / (m) typically lies in the range... 

Okamoto and his colleagues60) described the interesting polymerization of tri-phenylmethyl methacrylate. The bulkiness of this group affects the reactivity and the mode of placement of this monomer. The anionic polymerization yields a highly isotactic polymer, whether the reaction proceeds in toluene or in THF. In fact, even radical polymerization of this monomer yields polymers of relatively high isotacticity. Anionic polymerization of triphenylmethyl methacrylate initiated by optically active initiators e.g. PhN(CH2Ph)Li, or the sparteine-BuLi complex, produces an optically active polymer 60). Its optical activity is attributed to the chirality of the helix structure maintained in solution. 

A bulky methacrylate, triphenylmethyl methacrylate (TrMA), is a unique monomer which gives an almost 100% isotactic polymer in anionic polymerization with n-butyllithium both in nonpolar and polar solvents. Moreover, even free-radical polymerization affords a highly isotactic polymer from this monomer.23 The isotactic specificity of TrMA polymerization is ascribed to the helical formation of the main chain. When TrMA is polymerized in toluene at —78°C... 

There have been efforts to enhance stereoselectivity in radical polymerization by using fluoroalcohols or Lewis acids that complex with monomers such as MMA and vinyl acetate [Isobe et al., 2000, 2001a Okamoto et al., 2002], In almost all instances the effects are nil or very small. For example, the use of perfluoro-t-butyl alcohol as solvent instead of toluene changes (rr) from 0.89 to 0.91 in the polymerization of MMA at —78°C. An exception is in the polymerization of acrylamide in the presence of some rare-earth Lewis acids such as ytterbium triflate. The polymer is atactic at 0°C, (m) = 0.46, in the absence of the Lewis acid, but significantly isotactic, (m) — 0.80, in the presence of the Lewis acid. The reason for this effect is unclear. More highly isoselective polymerization occurs in some radical polymerizations of MMA (Sec. 8-14b). 

Because of acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of N-vinylpyrrolidone in water, polymerization was carried out in organic solvent - DMF. Three types of samples of poly(methacrylic acid) were used syndiotactic - obtained by radiation polymerization, atactic - obtained by radical polymerization, and isotactic - obtained by hydrolysis of isotactic poly(methyl methacrylate). It was found that in all cases the rate enhancement appeared in comparison with the blank polymerization (without template). The rate enhancement became more pronounced with increasing chain length and syndiotacticity of the template. According to the authors, the rate enhancement is connected with the stronger complex formation between poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) and syndiotactic poly(methacrylic acid) then with isotactic template. This conclusion was supported by turbimetric titration in DMF/DMSO system and by model considerations. It is worth noting, however, that... 

Many radical polymerization systems were examined hy Challa at a/. A number of papers were devoted to polymerization of methyl methacrylate, MM, in the presence of poly(methyl methacrylate). The role of tacticity of template was stressed. Isotactic PMM forms stereocomplex with syndiotactic PMM. Polymerizations of MM in the presence of isotactic PMM were carried out and the product (template + daughter polymer) was analyzed by NMR. When MM is polymerized in the polar solvent in the presence... 

It is not possible at our present stage of knowledge to place all of the catalysts in exact position relative to their ionic nature. The "mid point may be displaced some to either direction. Most catalysts contain several different components with different degrees of ionicity. Which component acts as the active catalyst for a particular double bond is unknown in most cases. Only crude presentations are possible until techniques have been developed to determine the actual ionic nature of the propagating species in isotactic ionic polymerization s such as ESR is capable of in free radical polymerizations. 

Stereocontrol of free radical polymerization is influenced by monomer constitution, solventy and temperature. Most polymerizations seem to follow at least a Markov first-order one-way mechanism. Ratios of the four possible rate constants ki/iy ki/8, k8/i, and k8/8 can be calculated from the experimentally accessible concentrations of configurational triads and diads. With increasing temperature, more heterotactic triads are formed at a syndiotactic radical whereas the monomer addition at an isotactic radical favors isotactic and not heterotactic triads. Compensation effects exist for the differences of activation enthalpies and activation entropies for each of the six possible combinations of modes of addition. The compensation temperature is independent of the mode of addition whereas the compensation enthalpies are not. 

TP he free radical polymerization of vinyl and acryl monomers normally does not lead to a true atactic polymer (I). A true atactic polymer is defined in this context as a polymer consisting of 50 isotactic and syndiotactic diads each, 25 iso- and syndiotactic triads each, and 50 heteroactic triads, etc. Furthermore all diads, triads, tetrads, etc., must be distributed at random. 

Intuitively, the idea of an influence of the size of the substituent on the stereocontrol in free radical polymerization is very appealing. However, it is not supported by quantitative data. Table I shows the probabilities p of the formation of isotactic and syndiotactic diads at existing iso- and syndiotactic diads for the free radical polymerization of the methacryl type monomers CH2=CH(CH3)COOR in toluene at —78°C. These probabilities have been calculated from published mole fractions of iso- and syndiotactic diads (Xi, X8) and iso-, syndio-, and heterotactic triads (Xu, X88 and Xu) via... 

Table I shows some peculiarities. In contrast to what has been claimed in literature, the probabilities of forming an isotactic diad at an existing iso tactic diad (pj/j) do not always equal the probabilities of forming an isotactic diad at an existing syndiotactic diad (p8/i). The free radical polymerization of the six methacrylate monomers mentioned is thus not always Bemoullian, at least not at the temperature of — 78°C and in toluene as a solvent.

A similar result has been recently found for the free radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in 14 solvents (32). All differences (Aff. — AHf/8) were found to be positive, but only three of the 14 differences (AH /g — AH. ). Again, isotactic triad formation is favored over heterotactic triad formation and heterotactic triad formation over syndiotactic with increasing temperature as long as the individual modes of addition are considered and not the net result. Except for meth-acrylic acid in alcohols (cf. Lando et al. (28)) no model is known which shows why a certain solvent acts differently from another one with respect to stereocontrol in free radical polymerization. 

Polypropylene owes its current market success to the development of coordination polymerization. Before 1957 it was not produced commercially because radical polymerization gives an atactic polymer that is amorphous and has poor mechanical properties. Using a coordination catalyst, however, enables the production of an isotactic polymer that is semicrystalline. This material is stiff and hard and has a high tensile strength. Among its many useful products are rope, molded objects, and furniture. 

Unsubstituted polymer chains cannot form different stereo isomers, while substituted polymers can have a large number of different possible isomeric forms. As a result it is possible to have various configurations for substituted polymers. For example polystyrene produced by radical polymerization is atactic which means the phenyl groups bound to every second C-atom are randomly distributed on both sides of the polymer chain. Polymers produced using Ziegler catalysts, made from monomers like styrene, propene and others are isotactic (Figure 2-2) ... 

Russian workers have recently claimed that polymerization of methyl methacrylate in the presence of zinc chloride yields isotactic polymer. Polymer 6, made according to their procedures, does not appear to be significantly different from what would be normally expected for free radical polymerization at or near room temperature (28). 

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