Sodium naphthalene anion

Scheme 14 Polymerization of polystyrene initiated with the sodium naphthalene anion.

Dimethylsulfoxide was found to increase the rate of hydrolysis in esters which were resistant to saponification. Treatment of alkyl toluenesulfonates with sodium naphthalene anion radical in tetrahydrofuran constituted an almost ideal procedure for regenerating the corresponding alcohols. The hydration of nitriles to amides in the presence of nickel catalysts shows an increase in yield with the addition of pyridine. ... 

Szwarc—Sodium naphthalene anionic diinitiators. Living polymers. A-B-A... 

The dimethanesulphonates of 1,2-diols are rapidly converted into alkenes by treatment with sodium anthracene or sodium naphthalene anion-radicals dimesylates of cis- and trans-cyclo-octane-l,2-diols apparently both give cis-Cyclododecene oxides give olefins with practically complete retention of with iron pentacarbonyl thus (119) gives cis-cyclohepiene (35%). ... 

Sodium naphthalene [25398-08-7J and other aromatic radical anions react with monomers such as styrene by reversible electron transfer to form the corresponding monomer radical anions. Although the equihbtium (eq. 10)... 

Aromatic radical anions, such as lithium naphthalene or sodium naphthalene, are efficient difunctional initiators (eqs. 6,7) (3,20,64). However, the necessity of using polar solvents for their formation and use limits their utility for diene polymerization, since the unique abiUty of lithium to provide high 1,4-polydiene microstmcture is lost in polar media (1,33,34,57,63,64). Consequentiy, a significant research challenge has been to discover a hydrocarbon-soluble dilithium initiator which would initiate the polymerization of styrene and diene monomers to form monomodal a, CO-dianionic polymers at rates which are faster or comparable to the rates of polymerization, ie, to form narrow molecular weight distribution polymers (61,65,66). 

The process of anionic polymerisation was first used some 60 or more years ago in the sodium-catalysed production of polybutadiene (Buna Rubbers). Typical catalysts include alkali metals, alkali metal alkyls and sodium naphthalene, and these may be used for opening either a double bond or a ring structure to bring about polymerisation. Although the process is not of major importance with the production of plastics materials, it is very important in the production of synthetic rubbers. In addition the method has certain special features that make it of particular interest. 

This type of polarization appears to be general in such systems and it has been proposed that it arises because of T i-S mixing. An interesting and important addif ional observation comes from a study of the reaction of isopropyl chloride with sodium naphthalene in a field of 60 G. Net emission in the products is predicted for T i-S mixing and multiplet polarization for Tq-S mixing. Since no multiplet polarization can be detected, it would seem that Tq-S mixing is suppressed in this system (Garst et al., 1971). Presumably, the naphthalene radical anion... 

The precipitated silica (J. Crosfield Sons) was heated in vacuo at 120° for 24h. before use. Two grades of surface areas 186 and 227 m g l (BET,N2), were used during this project. Random copolymers, poly(methyl methacrylates) and polystyrene PS I were prepared by radical polymerization block polymers and the other polystyrenes were made by anionic polymerization with either sodium naphthalene or sodium a methylstyrene tetramer as initiator. The polymer compositions and molecular weights are given in Table I. 

Only a few publications have appeared in which for the synthesis of reactive microgels other monomers were used than 1,4-DVB or EDMA. Hiller and Funke studied the anionic polymerization of 1,4-diisopropenylbenzene (1,4-DIPB) by n-BuLi in 1,2-dimethoxyethane and by sodium naphthalene in THF [231]. 

Several examples of carbenoid ion-radicals are discussed within this book. A silylene anion-radical preparation and properties is exemplified here. Scheme 2.5 shows the path to this species. Tetrakis(di-tert-butytmethylsilyl)disilylene was reduced by lithium or sodium salt of naphthalene anion-radical in THF at 78°C and then 12-crown-4 was added to the resulting reaction mixture. The silylene anion-radical was obtained as the corresponding alkali salt. Red crystals of the salt were isolated and characterized by ESR spectroscopy and x-ray crystallography (Inoue et al. 2007). 

The authors proposed the following picture of the silylene anion-radical formation. Treatment of the starting material by the naphthalene anion-radical salt with lithium or sodium (the metals are denoted here as M) results in two-electron reduction of >Si=Si< bond with the formation of >SiM—MSi< intermediate. The existence of this intermediate was experimentally proven. The crown ether removes the alkali cation, leaving behind the >Si - Si< counterpart. This sharply increases electrostatic repulsion within the silicon-silicon bond and generates the driving force for its dissociation. In a control experiment, with the alkali cation inserted into the crown ether, >Si — Si< species does dissociate into two [>Si ] particles. 

Ethylene and propylene episulfides polymerize in THE at 0-70°C in the presence of sodium naphthalene, and (importantly) the polymer contains no naphthalene residues. The reaction involves one-electron transfer followed by dimerization of the resulting radical to give a dithiolate ion. This ion then polymerizes an episulfide by anionic mechanism (Boileau et al. 1967 Scheme 7.14). 

Reduction is defined as acceptance of electrons. Electrons can be supplied by an electrode - cathode - or else by dissolving metals. If a metal goes into solution it forms a cation and gives away electrons. A compound to be reduced, e.g. a ketone, accepts one electron and changes to a radical anion A. Such a radical anion may exist when stabilized by resonance, as in sodium-naphthalene complexes with some ethers [122], In the absence of protons the radical anion may accept another electron and form a dianion B. Such a process is not easy since it requires an encounter of two negative species, an electron and a radical anion, and the two negative sites are close together. It takes place only with compounds which can stabilize the radical anion and the dianion by resonance. 

Szwarc and coworker have studied the interesting and useful polymerizations initiated by aromatic radical-anions such as sodium naphthalene [Szwarc, 1968, 1974, 1983]. Initiation proceeds by the prior formation of the active initiator, the naphthalene radical-anion (XVIII)... 

The reaction involves the transfer of an electron from the alkali metal to naphthalene. The radical nature of the anion-radical has been established from electron spin resonance spectroscopy and the carbanion nature by their reaction with carbon dioxide to form the carboxylic acid derivative. The equilibrium in Eq. 5-65 depends on the electron affinity of the hydrocarbon and the donor properties of the solvent. Biphenyl is less useful than naphthalene since its equilibrium is far less toward the anion-radical than for naphthalene. Anthracene is also less useful even though it easily forms the anion-radical. The anthracene anion-radical is too stable to initiate polymerization. Polar solvents are needed to stabilize the anion-radical, primarily via solvation of the cation. Sodium naphthalene is formed quantitatively in tetrahy-drofuran (THF), but dilution with hydrocarbons results in precipitation of sodium and regeneration of naphthalene. For the less electropositive alkaline-earth metals, an even more polar solent than THF [e.g., hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA)] is needed. 

The radical-anion proceeds to propagate in the same manner as discussed above for initiation by sodium naphthalene. (Polymerizations in liquid ammonia are very different from those in organic solvents in that free ions probably constitute the major portion of propagating species.)... 

The propagation rate constant and the polymerization rate for anionic polymerization are dramatically affected by the nature of both the solvent and the counterion. Thus the data in Table 5-10 show the pronounced effect of solvent in the polymerization of styrene by sodium naphthalene (3 x 1CT3 M) at 25°C. The apparent propagation rate constant is increased by 2 and 3 orders of magnitude in tetrahydrofuran and 1,2-dimethoxyethane, respectively, compared to the rate constants in benzene and dioxane. The polymerization is much faster in the more polar solvents. That the dielectric constant is not a quantitative measure of solvating power is shown by the higher rate in 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) compared to tetrahydrofuran (THF). The faster rate in DME may be due to a specific solvation effect arising from the presence of two ether functions in the same molecule. 

Isocyanates are polymerized through the carbon-nitrogen double bond to 1-nylons by anionic initiators such as metal alkyls, sodium naphthalene, and sodium cyanide [Bur and Fetters,... 

The anionic polymerization of epoxides such as ethylene and propylene oxides can be initiated by metal hydroxides, alkoxides, oxides, and amides as well as metal alkyls and aryls, including radical-anion species such as sodium naphthalene [Boileau, 1989 Dreyfuss and Drefyfuss, 1976 Inoue and Aida, 1984 Ishii and Sakai, 1969]. Thus the polymerization of ethylene oxide by M+A involves initiation... 

Another way to initiate anionic polymerization is by electron transfer. The reaction of sodium with naphthalene gives sodium naphthalene (sodium dihydro-naphthylide) in which the sodium has not replaced a hydrogen atom, but has transferred an electron to the electronic levels of the naphthalene this electron can be transferred to styrene or a-methylstyrene, forming a radical anion ... 

Anionic Polymerization of a-Methyi tyrene with Sodium Naphthalene in Solution ( Living Polymerization")... 

A variation of the sequential anionic polymerization is the use of dianions as initiator, like sodium naphthalene. One starts with the polymerization of monomer A. Then monomer B is fed to the reaction mixture which adds immediately to the living anions at each end of block A and thus leads to a triblock copolymer with an A-middle block and two B-outer blocks. This triblock copolymer is still alive and repetition of the above procedure results in a multiblock copolymer (see Example 3-49). 

Eor comparison, polystyrene and poly(4-vinylpyridine) are prepared by anionic polymerization with sodium naphthalene as initiator. Poly(4-vinylpyridine) precipitates from THE the mixture is poured into 200 ml of diethyl ether and the polymer filtered off.The polymer is then reprecipitated from pyridine solution into a ten-fold amount of diethyl ether and dried in vacuum. 

Anionic polymerization Initiated by electron transfer (e.g., sodium-naphthalene and styrene In THF) usually produces two-ended living polymers. Such species belong to a class of compounds called bolaform electrolytes (27) In which two Ions or Ion pairs are linked together by a chain of atoms. Depending on chain length, counterion end solvent, Intramolecular Ionic Interactions can occur which in turn may affect the dissociation of the ion pairs Into free ions or the llgand-lon pair complex formation constants. 

Polymer Preparation. Poly-para-methylstyrene (P-p-MS) was prepared by anionic polymerization in benzene at 50"C initiated by n-butyllithium (9) or in THF at 25°C initiated by sodium naphthalene (10). Polymerizations in benzene allowed preparation of more monodisperse materials than those prepared in THF since the propagation rate is slower relative to the initiation rate in the nonpolar solvent (11). Two different molecular weight materials were chlorinated (P-p-MS 1 and P-p-MS2). 

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