Traced polymer

Optidose is a new technology from Rohm Haas Company. It is provided as a combination of traced polymer and a field-friendly test kit that permits the determination of available active polymer in a cooling system at any given time. The technology is, in fact, a tracking system that permits the detection of ppm levels of tagged polymers, now incorporated... 

Loss of surface area] [sintered catalyst] /[carbon buildup] /[agglomeration]. [Maldistribution] faulty flow distributor design/plugging of flow distributors with fine solids, sticky byproducts or trace polymers/[sintered catalyst particles] /... 

The experimental techniques used were modifications of those previously described, Styrene (Monsanto Co.), divinylbenzene and trimethylol propane triacrylate (Polysciences Inc.) were freed from inhibitor and residual trace polymer by column chromatography on aluminium oxide. Monomers were used immediately after purification. For the actual grafting runs, low density polyethylene films (thickness, 0.12 mm. Union Carbide) were placed as strips (4 x 2 5 cm) in lightly stoppered pyrex tubes (15 x 2.5 cm) containing styrene/solvent solutions (20 ml) at 20 1°C For irradiation, the tubes were held on a circular rack surrounding a 1200 Ci cobalt-60 source The tubes were positioned such that the surfaces of the film were perpendicular, or near perpendicular, to the plane of the radiation At the completion of the irradiation, the grafted polymer films were removed from the monomer solution and exhaustively extracted in... 

McjC = CHCOCH3. Colourless liquid b.p. 129"C, with a strong peppermint-like odour. Prepared by distilling diacetone alcohol in the presence of a trace of iodine. Converted to phorone by heating in propanone with dehydrating agents such as sulphuric acid. It is a solvent For cellulose acetate and ethyl-cellulose and other polymers. 

When exposed to sunlight, it is converted to a white insoluble resin, disacryl. Oxidized by air to propenoic acid small amounts of hy-droquinone will inhibit this. Bromine forms a dibromide which is converted by barium hydroxide into DL-fructose. The acrid odour of burning fats is due to traces of propenal. It is used in the production of methionine and in controlled polymerization reactions to give acrolein polymers. ... 

Our purpose in this introduction is not to trace the history of polymer chemistry beyond the sketchy version above, instead, the objective is to introduce the concept of polymer chains which is the cornerstone of all polymer chemistry. In the next few sections we shall introduce some of the categories of chains, some of the reactions that produce them, and some aspects of isomerism which multiply their possibilities. A common feature of all of the synthetic polymerization reactions is the random nature of the polymerization steps. Likewise, the twists and turns the molecule can undergo along the backbone of the chain produce shapes which are only describable as averages. As a consequence of these considerations, another important part of this chapter is an introduction to some of the statistical concepts which also play a central role in polymer chemistry. 

The molecules used in the study described in Fig. 2.15 were model compounds characterized by a high degree of uniformity. When branching is encountered, it is generally in a far less uniform way. As a matter of fact, traces of impurities or random chain transfer during polymer preparation may result in a small amount of unsuspected branching in samples of ostensibly linear molecules. Such adventitious branched molecules can have an effect on viscosity which far exceeds their numerical abundance. It is quite possible that anomalous experimental results may be due to such effects. 

The various mechanical properties of polyamides may be traced in many instances to the possibility of intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the polymer molecules and to the relatively stiff chains these substances possess. The latter, in turn, may be understood by considering still another equilibrium, this one among resonance structures along the chain backbone ... 

What makes the latter items particularly important is the fact that the charge and electrolyte content of an unknown polymer may not be known hence it is important to design an osmotic pressure experiment correctly for such a system. It is often easier to add swamping amounts of electrolyte than to totally eliminate all traces of electrolyte. Under the former conditions a true molecular weight is obtained. Trouble arises only when the experimenter is indifferent toward indifferent electrolyte this sort of carelessness can be the source of much confusion. 

Traces of formaldehyde, present in neat end-capped polymer or produced by processing polymer under abusive conditions, detract from polymer stabihty. Commercial resins typically contain formaldehyde scavengers. Nitrogen compounds, especially amines and amides, epoxies, and polyhydroxy compounds, are particularly efficacious scavengers. 

Numerous methods for the deterrnination of monomer purity, including procedures for the deterrnination of saponification equivalent and bromine number, specific gravity, refractive index, and color, are available from manufacturers (68—70). Concentrations of minor components are deterrnined by iodimetry or colorimetry for HQ or MEHQ, by the Kad-Eisher method for water, and by turbidity measurements for trace amounts of polymer. 

With the exception of glass fiber, asbestos (qv), and the specialty metallic and ceramic fibers, textile fibers are a class of soHd organic polymers distinguishable from other polymers by their physical properties and characteristic geometric dimensions (see Glass Refractory fibers). The physical properties of textile fibers, and indeed of all materials, are a reflection of molecular stmcture and intermolecular organization. The abiUty of certain polymers to form fibers can be traced to several stmctural features at different levels of organization rather than to any one particular molecular property. 

The inactivity of pure anhydrous Lewis acid haUdes in Friedel-Crafts polymerisation of olefins was first demonstrated in 1936 (203) it was found that pure, dry aluminum chloride does not react with ethylene. Subsequentiy it was shown (204) that boron ttifluoride alone does not catalyse the polymerisation of isobutylene when kept absolutely dry in a vacuum system. However, polymers form upon admission of traces of water. The active catalyst is boron ttifluoride hydrate, BF H20, ie, a conjugate protic acid H" (BF20H) . 

Unless working with superdried systems or in the presence of proton traps, adventitious water is always present as a proton source. Polymeriza tion rates, monomer conversions, and to some extent polymer molecular weights are dependent on the amount of protic impurities therefore, weU-estabHshed drying methods should be followed to obtain reproducible results. The importance is not the elimination of the last trace of adventitious water, a heroic task, but to estabhsh a more or less constant level of dryness. 

Recycle and Polymer Collection. Due to the incomplete conversion of monomer to polymer, it is necessary to incorporate a system for the recovery and recycling of the unreacted monomer. Both tubular and autoclave reactors have similar recycle systems (Fig. 1). The high pressure separator partitions most of the polymers from the unreacted monomer. The separator overhead stream, composed of monomer and a trace of low molecular weight polymer, enters a series of coolers and separators where both the reaction heat and waxy polymers are removed. Subsequendy, this stream is combined with fresh as well as recycled monomers from the low pressure separator together they supply feed to the secondary compressor. 

Because almost any diacid can be leaddy converted to the acid chloride, this reaction is quite versatile and several variations have been developed. In the interfacial polymerization method the reaction occurs at the boundary of two phases one contains a solution of the acid chloride in a water-immiscible solvent and the other is a solution of the diamine in water with an inorganic base and a surfactant (48). In the solution method, only one phase is present, which contains a solution of the diamine and diacid chloride. An organic base is added as an acceptor for the hydrogen chloride produced in the reaction (49). Following any of these methods of preparation, the polymer is exposed to water and the acid chloride end is converted to a carboxyhc acid end. However, it is very difficult to remove all traces of chloride from the polymer, even with repeated washings with a strong base. 

Polyetherification is similar to a polycondensation process formation of high molecular weight polymer requires precise adjustment of composition to approximately 1 1 ratio of bisphenol to dihalosulfone. Trace amounts of water gready reduce the molecular weight attainable owing to side reactions that unbalance the stoichiometry (76). The reactivity of the halosulfone is in the order expected for two-step nucleophilic aromatic displacement reactions ... 

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