Semicrystalline thermoplastics synthesis

Extensive studies in the molecular biology and physiology of the bacterial biopolyester synthesis has been made in the last decade. Previous research activities were mainly aimed at the biotechnological production of the extracted and semicrystalline thermoplastic polyester materials. Recently, however, it has been recognized that the intracellular polyester inclusions or those derived from in vitro synthesis can be considered as natural bionanoparticles. 

The living nature of the nickel-catalyzed a-olefin polymerizations coupled with the propensity for chain straightening of longer a-olefins can be utilized to prepare block copolymers with well-defined architectures. For example, the synthesis of a-olefin A—B—A block copolymers where the semicrystalline A blocks are made up of poly(l-octadecene) and the B block is composed of a more highly branched, amorphous, random copolymer of propylene and 1-octadecene enabled the preparation of thermoplastic elastomeric polyolefins. ... 

PIT is a semicrystalline polymer synthesized by the condensation of PDO with either terephthalic acid or dimethyl terephthalate, followed by polymerization. Studies of PTT had never gone beyond academic interest until recent years because one of its raw materials, PDO, was very expensive and available only in a small volume. PTT received less attention compared with PET and PBT. However, recent breakthroughs in PDO synthesis made PTT available in industrial quantities, thus offering new opportunities in carpet, textile, film, packing, and engineering thermoplastics markets. 

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