Radical termination mechanisms

Early reports37 157 167 suggested that termination during VAc polymerization involved predominantly disproportionation. However, these investigations did not adequately allow for the occurrence of transfer to monomer and/or polymer, which are extremely important during VAc polymerization (Sections 6.2.6.2 and 6.2.7.4 respectively). These problems were addressed by Bamford et who used the gelation technique (Section 5.2.2,2) to show that the predominant radical-radical termination mechanism is combination (25 °C). 

Tertiary peroxyl radicals also produce chemiluminescence although with lower efficiencies. For example, the intensity from cumene autooxidation, where the peroxyl radical is tertiary, is a factor of 10 less than that from ethylbenzene (132). The chemiluminescent mechanism for cumene may be the same as for secondary hydrocarbons because methylperoxy radical combination is involved in the termination step. The primary methylperoxyl radical terminates according to the chemiluminescent reaction just shown for (36), ie, R = H. 

The main reason that the decreases as the polymerization temperature increases is the increase in the initiation and termination reactions, which leads to a decrease in the kinetic chain length (Fig. 17). At low temperature, the main termination mechanism is polystyryl radical coupling, but as the temperature increases, radical disproportionation becomes increasingly important. Termination by coupling results in higher PS than any of the other termination modes. 

Acrylamide polymerization by radiation proceeds via free radical addition mechanism [37,38,40,45,50]. This involves three major processes, namely, initiation, propagation, and termination. Apart from the many subprocesses involved in each step at the stationary state the rates of formation and destruction of radicals are equal. The overall rate of polymerization (/ p) is so expressed by Chapiro [51] as ... 

Transfer to initiator can be a major complication in polymerizations initiated by diacyl peroxides. The importance of the process typically increases with monomer conversion and the consequent increase in the [initiator] [monomer] ratio.9 105160 162 In BPO initiated S polymerization, transfer to initiator may be lire major chain termination mechanism. For bulk S polymerization with 0.1 M BPO at 60 °C up to 75% of chains are terminated by transfer to initiator or primary radical termination (<75% conversion).7 A further consequence of the high incidence of chain transfer is that high conversion PS formed with BPO initiator tends to have a much narrower molecular weight distribution than that prepared with other initiators (e.g. AIBN) under similar conditions. 

Two relatively new techniques, matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-lime of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) and electrospray ionization (FS1), offer new possibilities for analysis of polymers with molecular weights in the tens of thousands. PS molecular weights as high as 1.5 million have been determined by MALDI-TOF. Recent reviews on the application of these techniques to synthetic polymers include those by Ilantoif54 and Nielen.555 The methods have been much used to provide evidence for initiation and termination mechanisms in various forms of living and controlled radical polymerization.550 Some examples of the application of MALDI-TOF and ESI in end group determination are provided in Table 3.12. The table is not intended to be a comprehensive survey. 

NMR methods can be applied to give quantitative determination of initiator-derived and other end groups and provide a wealth of information on the polymerization process. They provide a chemical probe of the detailed initiation mechanism and a greater understanding of polymer properties. The main advantage of NMR methods over alternative techniques for initiator residue detection is that NMR signals (in particular nC NMR) are extremely sensitive to the structural environment of the initiator residue. This means that functionality formed by tail addition, head addition, transfer to initiator or primary radical termination, and various initiator-derived byproducts can be distinguished. 

The overall rate constant for radical-radical termination can be defined in terms of the rate of consumption of propagating radicals. Consider the simplified mechanism for radical polymerization shown in Scheme 5.4. 

In dealing with radical-radical termination in bulk, polymerization it is common practice to divide the polymerization timeline into three or more conversion regimes.2 "0 The reason for this is evident from Figure 5.3. Within each regime, expressions for the termination rate coefficient are defined according to the dominant mechanism for chain end diffusion. The usual division is as follows ... 

Many emulsion polymerizations can be described by so-called zero-one kinetics. These systems are characterized by particle sizes that are sufficiently small dial entry of a radical into a particle already containing a propagating radical always causes instantaneous termination. Thus, a particle may contain either zero or one propagating radical. The value of n will usually be less than 0.4. In these systems, radical-radical termination is by definition not rate determining. Rates of polymerization are determined by the rates or particle entry and exit rather than by rates of initiation and termination. The main mechanism for exit is thought to be chain transfer to monomer. It follows that radical-radical termination, when it occurs in the particle phase, will usually be between a short species (one that lias just entered) and a long species. 

A substantial number of studies give information on kJkK for polymerizations of S (5.2.2.2.1) and MMA (5.2,2.2.2). There has been less work oil other systems. One of the main problems in assessing kjk lies with assessing the importance of other termination mechanisms (i.e. transfer to initiator, solvent, etc., primary radical termination). 

Evaluation of molecular weights after ultrasonic scission of high molecular weight polymers (PMMA and PS) in the presence of a radical trap has been claimed to provide evidence of the termination mechanism.1,1 However, scission gives radicals as shown in Scheme 5.10. 

Studies on VC polymerization are also complicated by the fact that only a small proportion of termination events may involve radical-radical reactions. Most termination is by transfer to monomer (Sections 4.3.1.2 and 6.2.63). Early studies on the termination mechanism which do not allow for this probably overestimate the importance of disproportionation.lb8 iw... 

The efficiency of the halide- radical transformation is reported to be near quantitative. The yield of block or graft is then limited by the efficiency of the halide synthesis. Whether AB or ABA blocks are formed depends on the termination mechanism. Similar halo-compounds have been used to initiate A TRP (Section 9.4). 

Unstable structures are known to arise by chain termination. Mechanisms for radical-radical termination in MMA polymerization have been discussed in Sections 5.2.2.1.2 and 5.2.2.2.2 and these are summarized in Scheme 8.5. It is established that both disproportionation and combination occur to substantial extents. The head-to-head linkages 1 and the unsaturated chain ends 2 both constitute weak links in PMMA.26 2 "33 The presence of these groups account for... 

The kinetics and mechanism of living radical polymerization have been reviewed by Fischer,21 Fukuda et at.,22 and Goto and Fuktida.23 In conventional radical polymerization, new chains are continually formed through initiation w hile existing chains are destroyed by radical-radical termination. The steady state concentration of propagating radicals is 10"7 M and an individual chain will have a lifetime of only 1-10 s before termination within a total reaction lime that is... 

Heterogeneous polymerization processes (emulsion, miniemulsion, non-aqueous dispersion) offer another possibility for reducing the rate of termination through what are known as compartmcntalization effects. In emulsion polymerization, it is believed that the mechanism for chain stoppage within the particles is not radical-radical termination but transfer to monomer (Section 5.2.1.5). These possibilities have provided impetus for the development ofliving heterogeneous polymerization (Sections 9.3.6.6, 9.4.3.2, 9.5.3.6). 

The proposed polymerization mechanism is shown in Scheme 9.12. Thermal decomposition of the hexasubstituted ethane derivative yields hindered tertiary radicals that can initiate polymerization or combine with propagating species (primary radical termination) to form an oligomeric macroinitiator. The addition of the diphenylalkyl radicals to monomer is slow (e.g. k[ for 34 is reported as KT M"1 s l at 80 °C84) and the polymerization is characterized by an inhibition period during which the initiator is consumed and an oligomeric macroinitiator is formed. The bond to the Cl I formed by addition to monomer is comparatively thermally stable. 

NMP is most commonly used for S polymerization. For S polymerizations carried out at temperatures greater than 100 °C, thermal initiation provides some rate enhancement and a mechanism for controlling the excess of nitroxide that is formed as a consequence of radical-radical termination and the persistent radical... 

A living radical polymerization mechanism was proposed for the polymerization of MMA23 -240 and VAc241 initiated by certain aluminum complexes in the presence of nilroxides. It was originally thought that a carbon-aluminum bond was formed in a reversible termination step. However, a more recent study found the results difficult to reproduce and the mechanism to be complex.242... 

The polymerization rate equations are based on a classical free radical polymerization mechanism (i.e., initiation, propagation, and termination of the polymer chains). 

This agrees with experimental findings on the decomposition of acetaldehyde. The appearance of the three-halves power is a wondrous result of the quasisteady hypothesis. Half-integer kinetics are typical of free-radical systems. Example 2.6 describes a free-radical reaction with an apparent order of one-half, one, or three-halves depending on the termination mechanism. 

Solution The procedure is the same as in the acetaldehyde example. ODEs are written for each of the free-radical species, and their time derivatives are set to zero. The resulting algebraic equations are then solved for the free-radical concentrations. These values are substituted into the ODE governing RCl production. Depending on which termination mechanism is assumed, the solutions are... 

In contrast to chain transfer, termination reactions destroy free radicals. Two mechanisms are considered. Termination by combination produces a single molecule of dead polymer ... 

Inspired by Gif or GoAgg type chemistry [77], iron carboxylates were investigated for the oxidation of cyclohexane, recently. For example, Schmid and coworkers showed that a hexanuclear iron /t-nitrobenzoate [Fe603(0H) (p-N02C6H4C00)n(dmf)4] with an unprecedented [Fe6 03(p3-0)(p2-0H)] " core is the most active catalyst [86]. In the oxidation of cyclohexane with only 0.3 mol% of the hexanuclear iron complex, total yields up to 30% of the corresponding alcohol and ketone were achieved with 50% H2O2 (5.5-8 equiv.) as terminal oxidant. The ratio of the obtained products was between 1 1 and 1 1.5 and suggests a Haber-Weiss radical chain mechanism [87, 88] or a cyclohexyl hydroperoxide as primary oxidation product. 

Figure 22.4 Radical chain mechanism for the degradation of polyvinyl chloride a) initiation, b propagation and c) termination...

The oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols in the presence of 1-naphthylamine, 2-naphthylamine, or phenyl-1-naphthylamine is characterized by the high values of the inhibition coefficient / > 10 [1-7], Alkylperoxyl, a-ketoperoxyl radicals, and (3-hydroxyperoxyl radicals, like the peroxyl radicals derived from tertiary alcohols, appeared to be incapable of reducing the aminyl radicals formed from aromatic amines. For example, when the oxidation of tert-butanol is inhibited by 1-naphthylamine, the coefficient /is equal to 2, which coincides with the value found in the inhibited oxidation of alkanes [3], However, the addition of hydrogen peroxide to the tert-butanol getting oxidized helps to perform the cyclic chain termination mechanism (1-naphthylamine as the inhibitor, T = 393 K, cumyl peroxide as initiator, p02 = 98 kPa [8]). This is due to the participation of the formed hydroperoxyl radical in the chain termination ... 

As noted above, the duration of the retarding action of an inhibitor is directly proportional to the / value. In systems with a cyclic chain termination mechanism, the / coefficient depends on the ratio of the rate constants for two reactions, in which the inhibitor is regenerated and irreversibly consumed. In the oxidation of alcohols, aminyl radicals are consumed irreversibly via the reaction with nitroxyl radical formation (see earlier) and via the following reaction [11] ... 

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