Trimethyl ammonium- functionalized polymer

Poly(vinylbenzyl chloride) (VBC) is an ideal starting material onto which a variety of functional groups can be attached through relatively simple reactions and mild reaction conditions. Functionalized polymers are of interest in a variety of applications including but not limited to fire retardants, selective sorption resins, chromatography media, controlled release devices and phase transfer catalysts. An example of the wide applicability of functionalized polymers is provided by trimethyl ammonium functionalized poly(VBC). 

In this area, recent unrelated efforts of the groups of Bhattacharya and Fife toward the development of new aggregate and polymer-based DAAP catalysts deserve mention. Bhattacharya and Snehalatha [22] report the micellar catalysis in mixtures of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) with synthetic anionic, cationic, nonionic, and zwitterionic 4,4 -(dialkylamino)pyridine functional surfactant systems, lb-c and 2a-b. Mixed micelles of these functional surfactants in CTAB effectively catalyze cleavage of various alkanoate and phosphotriester substrates. Interestingly these catalysts also conform to the Michaelis-Menten model often used to characterize the efficiency of natural enzymes. These systems also demonstrate superior catalytic activity as compared to the ones previously developed by Katritzky and co-workers (3 and 4). 

Acrylamide monomer is a white crystal, available commercially as a 50 wt % aqueous solution. Acrylamide monomer can be polymerized to a very-high-molecular-weight (lO -lO g/mole) homopolymer, copolymer, or terpolymer. Polyacrylamide (PAM) is a nonionic polymer. The anionic polyacrylamide species can be obtained from the hydrolysis of the amide (—CONH ) functional group of the homopolymer, or from the copolymerization of acrylamide with an anionic monomer, such as acrylic acid (AA) or 2-acrylamino 2-methyl propane sulfonic acid (AMPS). Acrylamide can be copolymerized with a cationic monomer, such as dimethyl diallylammonium chloride (DMDAAC) or acryloyloxyethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (AETAC), to form the cationic acrylamide polymer. Acrylamide can simultaneously react with anionic and cationic monomers to form a polyampholyte. The acrylamide homopolymer, copolymers, and terpolymers are synthesized (1-20) by free radicals via solution or emulsion or other polymerization methods. F. A. Adamsky and E. J. Beckman (21) reported the inverse emulsion polymerization of acrylamide in supercritical carbon dioxide. The product classes of acrylamide polymers include liquid, dry, and emulsion. 

Tris (2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl) benzyl phosphonium hydroxide shows the highest basicity ever reported. Its HEM has the highest specific hydroxide conductivity among all reported cationic functional group-based HEMs, typically about twice that of trimethyl benzyl ammonium and more than foiu- times that of methyl imidazolium (39 [5], 19 [31], and 8.4mSgcm mmor [32] respectively, with the same polysulfone polymer matrix and homogeneous membrane structure in each case) (Table 6.2). 

---