Transfer constants

The magnitude of the individual terms in the summation depends on both th( specific chain transfer constants and the concentrations of the reactants undei consideration. The former are characteristics of the system and hence quantitie over which we have little control the latter can often be adjusted to study particular effect. For example, chain transfer constants are generally obtainec under conditions of low conversion to polymer where the concentration o polymer is low enough to ignore the transfer to polymer. We shall return belov to the case of high conversions where this is not true. 

If an experimental system is investigated in which only one molecule ii significantly involved in transfer, then the chain transfer constant to tha... 

This suggests that polymerizations should be conducted at different ratios of [SX]/[M] and the molecular weight measured for each. Equation (6.89) shows that a plot of l/E j. versus [SX]/[M] should be a straight line of slope sx Figure 6.8 shows this type of plot for the polymerization of styrene at 100°C in the presence of four different solvents. The fact that all show a common intercept as required by Eq. (6.89) shows that the rate of initiation is unaffected by the nature of the solvent. The following example examines chain transfer constants evaluated in this situation. 

Estimate the chain transfer constants for styrene to isopropylbenzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and benzene from the data presented in Fig. 6.8. Comment... 

Chain transfer to initiator or monomer cannot always be ignored. It may be possible, however, to evaluate the transfer constants to these substances by investigating a polymerization without added solvent or in the presence of a solvent for which Cgj is known to be negligibly small. In this case the transfer constants Cjj and Cj determined from experiments in which (via... 

Fairly extensive tables of chain transfer constants have been assembled on the basis of investigations of this sort. For example, the values of acryla-... 

As noted above, chain transfer to polymer does not interfere with the determination of other transfer constants, since the latter are evaluated at low conversions. In polymer synthesis, however, high conversions are desirable and extensive chain transfer can have a dramatic effect on the properties of the product. This comes about since chain transfer to polymer introduces branching into the product ... 

A moment s reflection reveals that the effect on v of transfer to polymer is different from the effects discussed above inasmuch as the overall degree of polymerization is not decreased by such transfers. Although transfer to polymer is shown in one version of Eq. (6.84), the present discussion suggests that this particular transfer is not pertinent to the effect described. Investigation of chain transfer to polymer is best handled by examining the extent of branching in the product. We shall not pursue the matter of evaluating the transfer constants, but shall consider instead two specific examples of transfer to polymer. 

Inhibitors are characterized by inhibition constants which are defined as the ratio of the rate constant for transfer to inhibitor to the propagation constant for the monomer in analogy with Eq. (6.87) for chain transfer constants. For styrene at 50°C the inhibition constant of p-benzoquinone is 518, and that for O2 is 1.5 X 10. The Polymer Handbook (Ref. 3) is an excellent source for these and most other rate constants discussed in this chapter. 

Evaluate the chain transfer constant (assuming that no other transfer... 

Table 1. Polymerization and Chain-Transfer Constants for Various Monomers ...

Table 2. Chain-Transfer Constants for Polymerization of Acrylamide in Water...

Table 10. Chain-Transfer Constants to Common Solvents for Poly(ethyl acrylate) ...

The molecular weight of a polymer can be controlled through the use of a chain-transfer agent, as well as by initiator concentration and type, monomer concentration, and solvent type and temperature. Chlorinated aUphatic compounds and thiols are particularly effective chain-transfer agents used for regulating the molecular weight of acryUc polymers (94). Chain-transfer constants (C at 60°C) for some typical agents for poly(methyl acrylate) are as follows (87) ... 

Chain transfer is an important consideration in solution polymerizations. Chain transfer to solvent may reduce the rate of polymerization as well as the molecular weight of the polymer. Other chain-transfer reactions may iatroduce dye sites, branching, chromophoric groups, and stmctural defects which reduce thermal stabiUty. Many of the solvents used for acrylonitrile polymerization are very active in chain transfer. DMAC and DME have chain-transfer constants of 4.95-5.1 x lO " and 2.7-2.8 x lO " respectively, very high when compared to a value of only 0.05 x lO " for acrylonitrile itself DMSO (0.1-0.8 X lO " ) and aqueous zinc chloride (0.006 x lO " ), in contrast, have relatively low transfer constants hence, the relative desirabiUty of these two solvents over the former. DME, however, is used by several acryhc fiber producers as a solvent for solution polymerization. 

Chain transfer to solvent is an important factor in controlling the molecular weight of polymers prepared by this method. The chain-transfer constants for poly(methyl methacrylate) in various common solvents (C) and for various chain-transfer agents are Hsted in Table 10. 

Table 4. Chain-Transfer Constants in Free-Radical Styrene Polymerization...

Solution Polymerization. Solution polymerization of vinyl acetate is carried out mainly as an intermediate step to the manufacture of poly(vinyl alcohol). A small amount of solution-polymerized vinyl acetate is prepared for the merchant market. When solution polymerization is carried out, the solvent acts as a chain-transfer agent, and depending on its transfer constant, has an effect on the molecular weight of the product. The rate of polymerization is also affected by the solvent but not in the same way as the degree of polymerization. The reactivity of the solvent-derived radical plays an important part. Chain-transfer constants for solvents in vinyl acetate polymerizations have been tabulated (13). Continuous solution polymers of poly(vinyl acetate) in tubular reactors have been prepared at high yield and throughput (73,74). 

Chain transfer to monomer is the main reaction controlling molecular weight and molecular weight distribution. The chain-transfer constant to monomer, C, is the ratio of the rate coefficient for transfer to monomer to that of chain propagation. This constant has a value of 6.25 x lO " at 30°C and 2.38 x 10 at 70°C and a general expression of 5.78 30°C, chain transfer to monomer happens once in every 1600 monomer... 

Liquid trichloroethylene has been polymerized by irradiation with Co y-rays or 20-keV x-rays (9). Trichloroethylene has a chain-transfer constant of <1 when copolymerized with vinyl chloride (10) and is used extensively to control the molecular weight of poly(vinyl chloride) polymer. 

Solution Polymerization. This method is not commercially important, although it is convenient and practical, because it provides viscous cements that are difficult to handle. Also, the choice of the solvent is a key parameter due to the high solvent chain-transfer constants for acrylates. 

Here the characteristic length, /, the reciprocal real part of the transfer constant according to Eq. (23-12), is analogous to the data in Section 24.4.2 ... 

Katz et al. [1] also examined the effect of particle diameter on resistance to mass transfer constant (C). They employed columns packed with 3.2 im, 4.4 p,m, 7.8 pm, and 17.5 pm, and obtained HETP curves for the solute benzyl acetate in 4.3%w/w of ethyl acetate in n-heptane on each column. The data were curve fitted to the Van Deemter equation and the values for the A, B and C terms for all four columns extracted. A graph relating the value of the (C) term with the square of the particle diameter is shown in Figure 8. 

Cumene hydroperoxide [95], benzoyl peroxide, or tert-h iiy peroxide [96]. can be used as accelerators with alkylboron initiators. The chain transfer constant for MMA to tributylborane has been estimated to be 0.647, which is comparable to tripropylamine [97]. 

Transfer to initiator introduces a new end group into the polymer, lowers the molecular weight of the polymer, reduces the initiator efficiency, and increases the rate of initiator disappearance. Methods of evaluating transfer constants are discussed in Section 6.2.1. 

Even though AIBN has a low transfer constant, the ketenimine formed by combination of cyanoisopropyl radicals (Scheme 3.13) is anticipated to be more susceptible to induced decomposition (Scheme 3.22).1Cb... 

It is clear that many procedures used to evaluate chain transfer constants can also be used to evaluate the kinetics of inhibition. The following sections will show that the mechanism for inhibition is often more complex than suggested by Scheme 5.11. 

The ratio kjkp is called the transfer constant (Ctr) and Ct, C, and CM are the transfer constants for transfer to transfer agent, initiator and monomer respectively. Appropriate substitution gives eq. 3 ... 

The rate constants for chain transfer and propagation may well have a different dependence on temperature (i.e. the two reactions may have different activation parameters) and, as a consequence, transfer constants are temperature dependent. The temperature dependence of Clr has not been determined for most transfer agents. Care must therefore he taken when using literature values of Clr if the reaction conditions are different from those employed for the measurement of Ctr. For cases where the transfer constant is close to 1.0, it is sometimes possible to choose a reaction temperature such that the transfer constant is 1.0 and thus obtain ideal behavior. 3... 

Table 6.1 Chain Length Dependence of Transfer Constants (C )...

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