Termination reactions free radical polymerizations

As with other chain reactions, free radical polymerization is a rapid reaction which consists of the characteristic steps of initiation, propagation, and termination. Free radical initiators are produced by the homolytic cleavage of covalent bonds as well as numerous radiation-associated methods. 

Fig. 56. Directed graph of a rooted tree from a linear chain polymerized by a chain reaction (free radical polymerization). I denotes the initiator, E the terminated chain end106)...

Termination of free radical polymerization is a reaction between two macroradicals R + Rm —> diamagnetic product(s)... 

The formation of polymers with terminal LM during chain termination in free-radical polymerization is based on the ability of anthracene and some of its derivatives to participate in homolytical reactions It was established that anthracene-containing compounds interact with macroradicals which are generated in free-radical... 

Problem 6.28 The bimolecular chain termination in free-radical polymerization is a diffusion-controlled reaction that can be treated as a three-stage process (North and Reid, 1963 Odian, 1991), described below. 

Reaction (O 23.105) describes a termination reaction with an impurity X present. Impurity termination in free-radical polymerization can also take place, but in free-radical chain... 

Polymerization reactions. There are two broad types of polymerization reactions, those which involve a termination step and those which do not. An example that involves a termination step is free-radical polymerization of an alkene molecule. The polymerization requires a free radical from an initiator compound such as a peroxide. The initiator breaks down to form a free radical (e.g., CH3 or OH), which attaches to a molecule of alkene and in so doing generates another free radical. Consider the polymerization of vinyl chloride from a free-radical initiator R. An initiation step first occurs ... 

The minimum polydispersity index from a free-radical polymerization is 1.5 if termination is by combination, or 2.0 if chains ate terminated by disproportionation and/or transfer. Changes in concentrations and temperature during the reaction can lead to much greater polydispersities, however. These concepts of polymerization reaction engineering have been introduced in more detail elsewhere (6). 

Polymerization Processes. Free-radical polymerization is carried out in a variety of ways. One of the practical problems that must be dealt with is mnaway reactions which can result from auto acceleration, an increase in rate of polymerization caused by diffusion-limited termination (reduced... 

Additive Polyimides. Rhc ne-Poulenc s Kin el molding compound and Kerimid impregnating resin (115), Mitsubishi s BT Resins (116), and Toshiba s Imidaloy Resin (117) are based on bismaleimide (4) technology. Maleic anhydride reacts with a diamine to produce a diimide oligomer (7). Eurther reaction with additional diamine (Michael addition) yields polyaminohismaleimide prepolymer with terminal maleic anhydride double bonds. Cure is achieved by free-radical polymerization through the terminal double bonds. 

Polyethylene is the simplest of so-called high polymers. The reaction for low density polyethylene (LDPE) follows the classical free radical polymerization steps of initiator decomposition, initiation, propagation, and termination. The reaction is... 

An emulsion polymerization reaction follows three conventional steps, namely, initiation, propagation, and termination. These steps can be described by the conventional reactions that are valid for any free radical polymerization. Smith and Ewart [10] proposed that a forming latex particle in an ideal emulsion polymeriza-... 

Bhawe (14) has simulated the periodic operation of a photo-chemically induced free-radical polymerization which has both monomer and solvent transfer steps and a recombination termination reaction. An increase of 50% in the value of Dp was observed over and above the expected value of 2.0. An interesting feature of this work is that when very short period oscillations were employed, virtually time-invariant products were predicted. 

Free radical polymerization Relatively insensitive to trace impurities Reactions can occur in aqueous media Can use chain transfer to solvent to modify polymerization process Structural irregularities are introduced during initiation and termination steps Chain transfer reactions lead to reduced molecular weight and branching Limited control of tacticity High pressures often required... 

Quinones are formed by the reaction of the peroxyl radical with phenoxyls (see Chapter 15). They are known as inhibitors of free radical polymerization of monomers where they retard the reaction terminating chains by the reaction with macroradicals [9]. Quinones do not react with peroxyl radicals and react with alkyl radicals by a few orders magnitude [5-7] more slowly than dioxygen does. It was a surprising phenomena that quinones appeared to... 

From these experimental and modeling studies, the mechanism of the living free radical polymerizations initiated by a combination of TED and DMPA have been elucidated. The TED produces DTC radicals that preferentially cross-terminate with the propagating carbon radicals. By this cross-termination reaction, the carbon radical concentration is kept low (as was shown in figure 6) and the rate of polymerization is decreased, as is the autoacceleration effect. This suppression of the autoacceleration peak in HEM A polymerizations and, interestingly, in DEGDMA polymerization has been observed to increase as the TED concentrations are increased. This behavior has been predicted successfully by the model as well. 

Another possible explanation is that singlet O2 somehow leads to crosslinking. The reactions of O2 have been extensively studied (34), and do not appear relevant to these copolymers. The only functionality that could conceivably react with singlet O2 is a vinyl chain termination, which could produce a hydroperoxide that might then participate in crosslinking. However, in a study of free radical polymerized PMMA (35), the maximum fraction of polymer chains with vinyl ends was found to be 0.36, for bulk polymerized material in benzene solution the fraction was 0-3%. This result, plus the fact that the insolubilization occurs immediately during photolysis at room temperature, makes it very unlikely that such hydroperoxides are involved. 

Here, gt takes into account one interesting feature of the free radical polymerization kinetics the auto acceleration in the rate of reaction (better known as the Trommsdorff or gel effect). The gel effect is taken into account in the model (42) by including the experimental correlation developed in [18] for the termination rate ... 

The free radical polymerization of HPMA in the presence of mercaptans involves two different initiation mechanisms (Scheme 2) [26]. One is the initiation by RS radicals from chain transfer agent the other appears to be the direct initiation by the primary isobutyronitrile (IBN) radicals formed by the decomposition of AIBN [27]. The RS are formed by either the free radical transfer reaction of alkyl mercaptans with the IBN radicals or the chain transfer reaction of an active polymer chain with the mercaptans. The initiation by the RS radicals produces the ST polymers with a functional group at one end of the polymer chain. The initiation by IBN radicals leads to nonfunctional polymer chains with an IBN end group. The presence of the polymers with IBN end groups effects the purity and the functionality of ST polymers. As expected, the production of nonfunctionalized polymer chains is affected by reaction conditions. The polymerization is mainly terminated by chain transfer reaction with the mercaptans, but other termination mechanisms, such as disproportionation and recombination, take place depending on the reaction conditions [26]. 

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