Vinyl polymers, polymerization

Section 1117 Polystyrene is a widely used vinyl polymer prepared by the free radical polymerization of styrene... 

For most vinyl polymers, head-to-tail addition is the dominant mode of addition. Variations from this generalization become more common for polymerizations which are carried out at higher temperatures. Head-to-head addition is also somewhat more abundant in the case of halogenated monomers such as vinyl chloride. The preponderance of head-to-tail additions is understood to arise from a combination of resonance and steric effects. In many cases the ionic or free-radical reaction center occurs at the substituted carbon due to the possibility of resonance stabilization or electron delocalization through the substituent group. Head-to-tail attachment is also sterically favored, since the substituent groups on successive repeat units are separated by a methylene... 

Vinyl polymers cross-linked with divinyl monomers, for example, polystyrene polymerized in the presence of divinyl benzene. 

This monomer polymerizes faster ia 50% water than it does ia bulk (35), an abnormaHty iaconsistent with general polymerization kinetics. This may be due to a complex with water that activates the monomer it may also be related to the impurities ia the monomer (eg, acetaldehyde, 1-methyl pyrroHdone, and 2-pyrroHdone) that are difficult to remove and that would be diluted and partitioned ia a 50% aqueous media (see Vinyl polymers, A/-VINYLAMIDE POLYPffiRS). 

Emulsion Adhesives. The most widely used emulsion-based adhesive is that based upon poly(vinyl acetate)—poly(vinyl alcohol) copolymers formed by free-radical polymerization in an emulsion system. Poly(vinyl alcohol) is typically formed by hydrolysis of the poly(vinyl acetate). The properties of the emulsion are derived from the polymer employed in the polymerization as weU as from the system used to emulsify the polymer in water. The emulsion is stabilized by a combination of a surfactant plus a coUoid protection system. The protective coUoids are similar to those used paint (qv) to stabilize latex. For poly(vinyl acetate), the protective coUoids are isolated from natural gums and ceUulosic resins (carboxymethylceUulose or hydroxyethjdceUulose). The hydroHzed polymer may also be used. The physical properties of the poly(vinyl acetate) polymer can be modified by changing the co-monomer used in the polymerization. Any material which is free-radically active and participates in an emulsion polymerization can be employed. Plasticizers (qv), tackifiers, viscosity modifiers, solvents (added to coalesce the emulsion particles), fillers, humectants, and other materials are often added to the adhesive to meet specifications for the intended appHcation. Because the presence of foam in the bond line could decrease performance of the adhesion joint, agents that control the amount of air entrapped in an adhesive bond must be added. Biocides are also necessary many of the materials that are used to stabilize poly(vinyl acetate) emulsions are natural products. Poly(vinyl acetate) adhesives known as "white glue" or "carpenter s glue" are available under a number of different trade names. AppHcations are found mosdy in the area of adhesion to paper and wood (see Vinyl polymers). 

Raw Materials. PVC is inherently a hard and brittle material and very sensitive to heat it thus must be modified with a variety of plasticizers, stabilizers, and other processing aids to form heat-stable flexible or semiflexible products or with lesser amounts of these processing aids for the manufacture of rigid products (see Vinyl polymers, vinyl chloride polymers). Plasticizer levels used to produce the desired softness and flexibihty in a finished product vary between 25 parts per hundred (pph) parts of PVC for flooring products to about 80—100 pph for apparel products (245). Numerous plasticizers (qv) are commercially available for PVC, although dioctyl phthalate (DOP) is by far the most widely used in industrial appHcations due to its excellent properties and low cost. For example, phosphates provide improved flame resistance, adipate esters enhance low temperature flexibihty, polymeric plasticizers such as glycol adipates and azelates improve the migration resistance, and phthalate esters provide compatibiUty and flexibihty (245). 

Almost all synthetic binders are prepared by an emulsion polymerization process and are suppHed as latexes which consist of 48—52 wt % polymer dispersed in water (101). The largest-volume binder is styrene—butadiene copolymer [9003-55-8] (SBR) latex. Most SBRlatexes are carboxylated, ie, they contain copolymerized acidic monomers. Other latex binders are based on poly(vinyl acetate) [9003-20-7] and on polymers of acrylate esters. Poly(vinyl alcohol) is a water-soluble, synthetic biader which is prepared by the hydrolysis of poly(viayl acetate) (see Latex technology Vinyl polymers). 

The main industrial use of alkyl peroxyesters is in the initiation of free-radical chain reactions, primarily for vinyl monomer polymerizations. Decomposition of unsymmetrical diperoxyesters, in which the two peroxyester functions decompose at different rates, results in the formation of polymers of enhanced molecular weights, presumably due to chain extension by sequential initiation (204). 

Etee-tadical reactions ate accompHshed using a variety of processes with different temperature requirements, eg, vinyl monomer polymerization and polymer modifications such as curing, cross-linking, and vis-breaking. Thus, the polymer industries ate offered many different, commercial, organic peroxides representing a broad range of decomposition temperatures, as shown in Table 17 (19,22,31). 

Often a chain-transfer agent is added to vinyl acetate polymerizations, whether emulsion, suspension, solution, or bulk, to control the polymer molecular weight. Aldehydes, thiols, carbon tetrachloride, etc, have been added. Some emulsion procedures call for the recipe to include a quantity of preformed PVAc emulsion and sometimes antifoamers must be added (see Foams). 

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). 

Poly(vinyl chloride). Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) [9002-86-2] is a thermoplastic for building products. It is prepared by either the bulk or the suspension polymerization process. In each process residual monomer is removed because it is carcinogenic. Oxygen must be avoided throughout the process (see Vinyl polymers). 

When many moleeules eombine the maeromoleeule is termed a polymer. Polymerization ean be initiated by ionie or free-radieal meehanisms to produee moleeules of very high moleeular weight. Examples are the formation of PVC (polyvinyl ehloride) from vinyl ehloride (the monomer), polyethylene from ethylene, or SBR synthetie rubber from styrene and butadiene. 

Photoinitiators provide a convenient route for synthesizing vinyl polymers with a variety of different reactive end groups. Under suitable conditions, and in the presence of a vinyl monomer, a block AB or ABA copolymer can be produced which would otherwise be difficult or impossible to produce by another polymerization method. Moreover, synthesis of block copolymers by this route is much more versatile than those based on anionic polymerization, since a wider range of a monomers can be incorporated into the blocks. 

Homopolymerization of macroazoinimers and co-polymerization of macroinimers with a vinyl monomer yield crosslinked polyethyleneglycol or polyethyleneglycol-vinyl polymer-crosslinked block copolymer, respectively. The homopolymers and block copolymers having PEG units with molecular weights of 1000 and 1500 still showed crystallinity of the PEG units in the network structure [48] and the second heating thermograms of polymers having PEG-1000 and PEG-1500 units showed that the recrystallization rates were very fast (Fig. 3). 

One of the most dramatic examples of a solvent effect on propagation taken from the early literature is for vinyl acetate polymerization.78,79 Kamachi el al.n reported a ca. 80-fold reduction in kp (30aC) on shifting from ethyl acetate to benzonilrile solvent (Table 8.1). Effects on polymer structure were also reported. Hatada ef a m conducted a H NMR study on the structure of the PVAc formed in various solvents. They found that PVAc (M n 20000) produced in ethyl acetate solvent has 0.7 branches/chain while that formed in aromatic solvents is essentially unbranched. 

The low yields of vinyl polymers (Ganushchak et al., 1972) are probably due to the arylethane radical 10.17 reacting more rapidly with CuCl2 than with the vinyl monomer. The formation of 10.17 is also the initiation of the polymerization chain reaction. 

Interest in anionic polymerizations arises in part from the reactivity of the living carbanionic sites4 7) Access can be provided to polymers with a functional chain end. Such species are difficult to obtain by other methods. Polycondensations yield ro-functional polymers but they provide neither accurate molecular weight control nor low polydispersity. Recently Kennedy51) developed the inifer technique which is based upon selective transfer to fit vinylic polymers obtained cationically with functions at chain end. Also some cationic ring-opening polymerizations52) without spontaneous termination can yield re-functional polymers upon induced deactivation. Anionic polymerization remains however the most versatile and widely used method to synthesize tailor made re-functional macromolecules. 

Enzymes are generally classified into six groups. Table 1 shows typical polymers produced with catalysis by respective enzymes. The target macromolecules for the enzymatic polymerization have been polysaccharides, poly(amino acid)s, polyesters, polycarbonates, phenolic polymers, poly(aniline)s, vinyl polymers, etc. In the standpoint of potential industrial applications, this chapter deals with recent topics on enzymatic synthesis of polyesters and phenolic polymers by using enzymes as catalyst. 

Observations on the polymerization of readily polymerizable vinyl monomers such as styrene, vinyl chloride, and butadiene date back approximately to the first recorded isolation of the monomer in each case. Simon 2 reported in 1839 the conversion of styrene to a gelatinous mass, and Berthelot applied the term polymerization to the process in 1866. Bouchardat polymerized isoprene to a rubberlike substance. Depolymerization of a vinyl polymer to its monomer (and other products as well) by heating at elevated temperatures was frequently noted. Lemoine thought that these transformations of styrene could be likened to a reversible dissociation, a commonly held view. While the terms polymerization and depolymerization were quite generally applied in this sense, the constitution of the polymers was almost completely unknown. 

The difficulties of devising a basis for conveniently classifying various polymerizations in an appropriate manner have been discussed earlier in this chapter and several borderline examples which offer particular difficulty have been mentioned. One of these, the polymerization of the N-carboxyanhydrides, falls within the definition of a condensation polymerization, proceeds by a mechanism resembling a vinyl addition polymerization, and yields a product which possesses the structure of a typical condensation polymer. Definitions have been... 

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