Nitroxide-Mediated Copolymerization of Itaconate Esters with Styrene

Processes

Omar Garcia Valdez¹  Sepehr Kardan¹  Adrien Métafiot¹  Milan Maric¹ 

[1] Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0C5, Canada;

关键词: nitroxide mediated polymerization;    itaconate esters;    copolymerization;   

DOI  :  10.3390/pr7050254

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Replacing petro-based materials with renewably sourced ones has clearly been applied to polymers, such as those derived from itaconic acid (IA) and its derivatives. Di-n-butyl itaconate (DBI) was (co)polymerized via nitroxide mediated polymerization (NMP) to impart elastomeric (rubber) properties. Homopolymerization of DBI by NMP was not possible, due to a stable adduct being formed. However, DBI/styrene (S) copolymerization by NMP at various initial molar feed compositions f_DBI,0 was polymerizable at different reaction temperatures (70−110 °C) in 1,4 dioxane solution. DBI/S copolymerizations largely obeyed first order kinetics for initial DBI compositions of 10% to 80%. Number-average molecular weight (M_n) versus conversion for various DBI/S copolymerizations however showed significant deviations from the theoretical M_n as a result of chain transfer reactions (that are more likely to occur at high temperatures) and/or the poor reactivity of DBI via an NMP mechanism. In order to suppress possible intramolecular chain transfer reactions, the copolymerization was performed at 70 °C and for a longer time (72 h) with f_DBI,0 = 50%−80%, and some slight improvements regarding the dispersity (Ð = 1.3−1.5), chain activity and conversion (~50%) were observed for the less DBI-rich compositions. The statistical copolymers produced showed a depression in T_g relative to poly(styrene) homopolymer, indicating the effect of DBI incorporation.

【 授权许可】

Unknown