Radical Reactions Copolymerizations

This chapter has been largely compiled, with permission and some minor updating, from the introductory sections of the corresponding chapters in Moad and Solomon s The Chemistry of Radical Polymerization Most of the examples, data, and detailed discussion have been omitted as have the chapters on (small) radical reactions, copolymerization, and control of polymerization. The reader is referred to the original work for more information. 

Styrene is a colorless Hquid with an aromatic odor. Important physical properties of styrene are shown in Table 1 (1). Styrene is infinitely soluble in acetone, carbon tetrachloride, benzene, ether, / -heptane, and ethanol. Nearly all of the commercial styrene is consumed in polymerization and copolymerization processes. Common methods in plastics technology such as mass, suspension, solution, and emulsion polymerization can be used to manufacture polystyrene and styrene copolymers with different physical characteristics, but processes relating to the first two methods account for most of the styrene polymers currendy (ca 1996) being manufactured (2—8). Polymerization generally takes place by free-radical reactions initiated thermally or catalyticaHy. Polymerization occurs slowly even at ambient temperatures. It can be retarded by inhibitors. 

The refined grade s fastest growing use is as a commercial extraction solvent and reaction medium. Other uses are as a solvent for radical-free copolymerization of maleic anhydride and an alkyl vinyl ether, and as a solvent for the polymerization of butadiene and isoprene usiag lithium alkyls as catalyst. Other laboratory appHcations include use as a solvent for Grignard reagents, and also for phase-transfer catalysts. 

The basic Hammett scheme often does not offer a perfect correlation and a number of variants on this scheme have been proposed to better explain reactivities in radical reactions.-0 However, none of these has achieved widespread acceptance. It should also be noted that linear free energy relationships are the basis of the Q-e and Patterns of Reactivity schemes for understanding reactivities of propagating species in chain transfer and copolymerization. 

The ends of polymer chains are often not representative of the overall chain composition. This arises because the initiator and transfer agent-derived radicals can show a high degree of selectivity for reaction with a particular monomer type (Section 3.4). Similarly, there is specificity in chain tennination. Transfer agents show a marked preference for particular propagating species (Section 6.2.2 and 6.2.3). The kinetics of copolymerization are such that the probability for termination of a given chain by radical-radical reaction also has a marked dependence on the nature of the last added units (Section 7.4.3). 

The book commences with a general introduction outlining the basic concepts. This is followed by a chapter on radical reactions that is intended to lay the theoretical ground-work for the succeeding chapters on initiation, propagation, and termination. Because of its importance, radical copolymerization is treated in a separate chapter. We then consider some of the implications of these chapters by... 

The free-radical reaction may be equally initiated by photoactivated sulfur dioxide (3S02)442 (equation 79). On the other hand, polysulfones are obtained by radical copolymerization of appropriate olefins with sulfur dioxide443-449, and similarly, uptake of sulfur dioxide by a radical-pair formed by nitrogen extrusion from an azo compound yields the corresponding sulfone450 (equation 80). Correspondingly, alkylbenzenes, dibenzoyl peroxide, and sulfur dioxide yield sulfones under thermal conditions451... 

Photoinduced free radical graft copolymerization onto a polymer surface can be accomplished by several different techniques. The simplest method is to expose the polymer surface (P-RH) to UV light in the presence of a vinyl monomer (M). Alkyl radicals formed, e.g. due to main chain scission or other reactions at the polymer surface can then initiate graft polymerization by addition of monomer (Scheme 1). Homopolymer is also initiated (HRM-). 

Solomon (3, h, 5.) reported that various clays inhibited or retarded free radical reactions such as thermal and peroxide-initiated polymerization of methyl methacrylate and styrene, peroxide-initiated styrene-unsaturated polyester copolymerization, as well as sulfur vulcanization of styrene-butadiene copolymer rubber. The proposed mechanism for inhibition involved deactivation of free radicals by a one-electron transfer to octahedral aluminum sites on the clay, resulting in a conversion of the free radical, i.e. catalyst radical or chain radical, to a cation which is inactive in these radical initiated and/or propagated reactions. 

Steric effects similar to those in radical copolymerization are also operative in cationic copolymerizations. Table 6-9 shows the effect of methyl substituents in the a- and 11-positions of styrene. Reactivity is increased by the a-methyl substituent because of its electron-donating power. The decreased reactivity of P-methylstyrene relative to styrene indicates that the steric effect of the P-substituent outweighs its polar effect of increasing the electron density on the double bond. Furthermore, the tranx-fl-methylstyrene appears to be more reactive than the cis isomer, although the difference is much less than in radical copolymerization (Sec. 6-3b-2). It is worth noting that 1,2-disubstituted alkenes have finite r values in cationic copolymerization compared to the values of zero in radical copolymerization (Table 6-2). There is a tendency for 1,2-disubstituted alkenes to self-propagate in cationic copolymerization, although this tendency is low in the radical reaction. 

Deters (14) vibromilled a blend of cellulose and cellulose triacetate. The acetic acid content of cellulose acetate decreased with grinding time (40 h) while that of the cellulose increased, suggesting the formation of a block or graft copolymer or of an esterification reaction by acetic acid developed by mechanical reaction. Baramboim (/5) dissolved separately in CO polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate), and poly(vinyl acetate). After mixing equal volumes of solutions of equivalent polymer concentration, the solvent was evaporated at 50° C under vacuum and the resultant product ball-milled. The examination of the ball-milled products showed the formation of free radicals which copolymerized. 

The radical reaction mechanism was confirmed by polymerizing a mixture of styrene and methyl methacrylate. The ratio of the monomers in the copolymer (1.15) was nearly equal to the value (1.05) calculated from the reactivity ratio for radical copolymerization and differed considerably from the value of 10.5 for the cationic copolymerization and from the value 0.15 for anionic copolymerization (78). 

Copolymerization, on the other hand, is very easy with maleic anhydride. It copolymerizes by a free-radical reaction with a wide variety of monomers and many of the copolymers are perfectly alternating. This tendency of MA to form alternating copolymers derives from the participation of a donor-acceptor complex formed by the two reacting monomers. The term is used to describe... 

One may perform radical graft copolymerizations onto the butadiene region of copolymers of styrene and butadiene without any reaction occurring at the styrene portions of the copolymer. If the monomer is reactive, reaction of the monomer at an allylic site occurs while for less reactive monomers, the polymeric radical is formed and this adds to the double bond of the polymer. Proof of the site of grafting comes from information about the relative efficiency of different initiators but the most important information is obtained from infrared spectroscopy. One can observe differences in the spectra which can be related to the mode of addition. 

Copolymerizations initiated by lithium metal should give the same product as produced from lithium alkyls. Usually the radical ends produced by electron transfer initiation have so short a lifetime they can have no influence on the copolymerization. This is true for instance in the copolymerization of isoprene and styrene (50). The product is identical if initiated by lithium metal or by butyllithium. With the styrene-methylmethacrylate system, however, differences are observed (79,80,82). Whereas the butyllithium initiated copolymer contains no styrene at low conversions, the one initiated by lithium metal has a high styrene content if the reaction is carried out in bulk and a moderate one even in tetrahydrofuran. These facts led O Driscoll and Tobolsky (80) to suggest that initiation with lithium occurs by electron exchange and that in this case the radical ends are sufficiently long-lived to produce simultaneous radical and anionic reactions at opposite ends of the chain. Only in certain rather exceptional circumstances would the free radical reaction be of importance. Some of the conditions required have been discussed by Tobolsky and Hartley (111). The anionic reaction should be slow. This is normally true for lithium based catalysts in hydrocarbon solvents. No evidence of appreciable radical participation is observed for initiation by sodium and potassium. The monomers should show a fast radical reaction. If styrene is replaced by isoprene, no isoprene is found in the copolymer for isoprene polymerizes slowly by free radical initiation. Most important of all, initiation should be slow to produce a low steady concentration of radical-anions. An initiator which produces an almost instantaneous and complete electron transfer to monomer produces a high radical concentration which will ensure their rapid mutual termination. 

After the demonstrations of preparation of stereoregular polymers having novel properties by means of special ionic methods, die possibilities of free radical methods were examined extensively. It must be concluded that in free radical systems the structures of homopolymers and copolymers can be little influenced by specific catalysts and other reaction conditions, but are determined largely by monomer structure. This is consistent with the relative uniformity of comonomer reactivity ratios in radical copolymerizations. However, it has been found possible to obtain somewhat more syndiotactic structure, dldl. than normally obtained by radical reactions, at low temperatures and by selecting solvents. Examples are polyvinyl chlorides of higher than usual crystallinity from polymerizations at low temperature e.g.. —50°C under ultraviolet light... 

The first free radical initiated copolymerization was described by Brubakerl) in a patent. A variety of peroxides and hydroperoxides, as well as, 02, were used as initiators. Olefins that were copolymerized with CO included ethylene, propylene, butadiene, CH2=CHX (X—Cl, OAc, CN) and tetrafluoroethylene. A similar procedure was also used to form terpolymers which incorporated CO, C2H4 and a second olefin such as propylene, isobutylene, butadiene, vinyl acetate, tetrafluoroethylene and diethyl maleate. In a subsequent paper, Brubaker 2), Coffman and Hoehn described in detail their procedure for the free radical initiated copolymerization of CO and C2H4. Di(tert-butyl)peroxide was the typical initiator. Combined gas pressures of up to 103 MPa (= 15,000 psi) and reaction temperatures of 120—165 °C were employed. Copolymers of molecular weight up to 8000 were obtained. The percentage of CO present in the C2H4—CO copolymer was dependent on several factors which included reaction temperature, pressure and composition of reaction mixture. Close to 50 mol % incorporation of CO in the copolymer may be achieved by using a monomer mixture that is >70 mol% CO. Other related procedures for the free radical... 

At 20 °C, for y-ray induced copolymerizations, r, 0.04 for monomer compositions containing 8-39% CO 7). At 120-130 °C, for (C2HsO)2 initiated copolymerizations, tj si 0.15 9). As Eq. (6) indicates, there exists one monomer ratio for which the copolymer composition equals the monomer composition, namely if + [C]/[E]) = 1. Using the above values of r, this azeotropic composition corresponds to 48.5 mol % CO for the y-ray induced copolymerizations at 20 °C (Fig. 1) 7), and si 46 mol % CO for the free radical initiated copolymerizations 9). The value of rj is dependent on the reaction temperature. For example, for the y-ray induced copolymerizations, the value of r2 increases from 0.04 at 20 °C to 0.31 at 157 °C 7). As expected, the value of rt at 135 °C was close to that observed for the free-radical initiated polymerization at that temperature. These results indicate that the copolymerization should be carried out at low temperatures in order to get copolymers with high CO contents. The azeotropic composition is also altered by pressure. For example, for (C2HsO)2 initiated copolymerizations the %CO in the azeotropic composition drops from 46% to 36% when the total gas pressure is lowered from 100 to 13.6 MPa (from 1000 to 136 atm) 9). 

The initiation of radical polymerizations, various transfer, as well as termination reactions all lead to a variety of products and the makeup of the mixture can only be slightly influenced by varying the reaction conditions or the monomer concentration, the initiator or the solvent. Furthermore, radical block copolymerization leads inevitably to more or less homopolymer so that the products require careful separation before the block copolymer can be characterized. Nevertheless, the synthesis of block copolymers via a radical mechanism has several important advantages ... 

In a similar way as has been described for syntheses of type al, the majority of examples of type b involve polycondensation of a,ea bifunctional, small molecule reaction partners. Some examples are the reaction of AIBN or AIBN derivatives with 1,4-cyclohexane bismethyl diamine78), 1,2-ethylene diamine78), 1,6-hexamethylene diamine 78-80 , bisphenol A 78,81 and mono-, di- and tetraethylene glycol 55-64 . In almost all case using the AIBN derivative 4,4 -azobis(4-cyano valeryl chloride), an interfacial polymerization was employed. These polymeric azo compounds could be used as initiators for radical block copolymerizations. 

Graft and block copolymers of cotton cellulose, in fiber, yam, and fabric forms, were prepared by free-radical initiated copolymerization reactions of vinyl monomers with cellulose. The properties of the fibrous cellulose-polyvinyl copolymers were evaluated by solubility, ESR, and infrared spectroscopy, light, electron, and scanning electron microscopy, fractional separation, thermal analysis, and physical properties, including textile properties. Generally, the textile properties of the fibrous copolymers were improved as compared with the properties of cotton products. 

The modification of the properties of fibrous cotton cellulose through free-radical initiated copolymerization reactions with vinyl monomers has been investigated at the Southern Laboratory for a number of years. Both graft and block copolymers are formed. Under some experimental conditions the molecular weight of the polyvinyl polymer, covalently... 

Applications of ESR spectroscopy to investigations of free-radical initiated copolymerization reactions of cellulose with vinyl monomers have been reported (1, 2). NMR and infrared spectroscopy have been used to examine products obtained from degradation of cellulose copolymers to characterize the nature of the chemical bonds between cellulose and polyvinyl polymer (35, 42). Covalent bonds were indicated in most cases. 

In this case, the free-radical reaction is a copolymerization between styrene and (meth)acrylate double bonds. The reactivity ratios are rs 0.5 and rM 0.5. 

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