Studies Of Copolymerization Of Degraded Natural Rubber And Methyl Methacrylate

Author : Lapporn Vayachuta
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (864 download)

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Download or read book Utilization of Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization for Synthesis of Graft Copolymer of Natural Rubber and Poly(methylmethacrylate) written by Lapporn Vayachuta and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) technique was applied for synthesis of natural rubber-grafted-poly(methyl methacrylate) (NR-g-PMMA). Active sites on macromolecular chains of NR were created by fixation of bromoalkyl groups via a two-step chemical modification: partial epoxidation on unsaturated carbon-carbon bonds, followed by nucleophilic addition of a bromoalkyl-functionalized carboxylic acid on the oxirane rings of the epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) obtained. The resulting bromoalkyl-functionalized rubber was then used as macroinitiator to initiate the ATRP of methyl methacrylate (MMA) from NR chains by varying reaction conditions. The study was successively envisaged with 4-methyloct-4-ene (a model molecule of NR repeating unit), a synthetic cis-1,4-polyisoprene, and natural rubber. In the first part, the feasibility of the grafting reaction is verified by studying the ATRP of MMA from model molecules of bromoalkyl-functionalized 1,4-polyisoprene units. The model of the 1,4-polysisoprene unit, 4-methyloct-4-ene, is transformed in various models of bromoalkyl-functionalized 1,4-polyisoprene units via a chemical modification procedure carried out in two-steps: epoxidation performed with m-chloroperbenzoic acid (CPBA) followed by the addition of the bromoalkyl-functionalized carboxylic acid (2-bromopropionic acid, A1, or 2-bromo-2-methylpropionic acid, A2) on the oxirane ring formed. The addition of the acid occurs according to an SN2 mechanism with fixation of the acid group on the less substituted carbon of the oxirane ring and is competed with a secondary reaction of rearrangement of oxirane ring, leading to the formation of two allyl alcohols. The yield of the addition depends on the acidity of the carboxylic acid used. Afterwards, resulting O-(2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-(n-propyl)pentyl)-2-bromopropionate and O-(2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-(n-propyl)pentyl)-2-bromoisobutyrate, were used to initiate the ATRP of MMA at 90°C in toluene using Cu(I)Br complexed with a polyamine ligand. Several ligands were tested: N-(n-octyl)-2-pyridylmethanimine (NOPMI), N-(n-octadecyl)-2-pyridylmethanimine (NODPMI), and 1,1,4,7,7-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (PMDETA). A good control of molecular weights (SECn,M) and polydispersity indexes (PDI) were obtained with O-(2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-(n-propyl)pentyl)-2-bromoisobutyrate as the initiator in presence of CuBr/NOPMI as catalytic system. In the second part, the synthetic cis-1,4-polyisoprene (PI) is transformed into a bromoalkyl-functionalized polyisoprene (PI-Br) macroinitiator using a two-step chemical modification procedure similar to that used for synthesis of the model. PI was partially epoxidized using CPBA in dichloromethane, and then the epoxidized PI (EPI) obtained was reacted with A2. The addition of the acid occurs according to an SN2 mechanism with fixation of the acid group on the less substituted carbon of the oxirane ring ([beta]-addition) and is competed with rearrangement reactions of oxirane rings, leading to external allyl alcohol. SECn,M and PDI of PMMA grafts were determined by Size Exclusion Chromatography after separation from the PI backbone by hydrolysis of the ester bond using trifluoroacetic acid. An internal first order kinetic plot with respect to monomer and an increase of SECn,M with MMA conversion were observed using Cu(I)Br complexed with bidentate (NOPMI and NODPMI) and tridentate (PMDETA) ligands, as catalytic systems. With bidentate ligands, the PDI of grafts is better controlled. Moreover, the control of SECn,M and PDI of PMMA grafts was affected by increasing the degree of initiating units in PI-Br. In the last part, NR is used as a starting material. It was partially epoxidized in ENR in latex medium by reaction with performic acid generated in-situ from formic acid and hydrogen peroxide, and then ENR was transformed in bromoalkyl-functionalized NR (NR-Br) by nucleophilic addition of A2 on the oxirane rings. The addition of the acid is similar to that observed during the studies performed with 4-methyloct-4-ene and PI. Resulting NR-Br was then used to initiate the graft polymerization of MMA from NR chains using normal ATRP in toluene solution and in aqueous dispersed medium, respectively. AGET-ATRP was also considered in aqueous dispersed medium to study the effect of water for further ATRP graft copolymerization studies with NR latices. By normal ATRP in toluene solution, the termination reactions by recombination decreased as MMA concentration deceased, from 30 wt% to 10 wt%. PDIs of PMMA grafts vary in range from 1.7 (at 8.1 % MMA conversion) to 2.0 (at 52.0 % MMA conversion). A better control of the SECn,M and PDI of PMMA grafts was obtained by using normal ATRP in aqueous dispersed medium, more especially when CuBr was complexed with NODPMI. In these conditions, PDIs of PMMA grafts were low (closed to 1.5 at low MMA conversion). In AGET-ATRP performed in aqueous dispersed medium, it was shown that the efficiency of graft copolymerization is affected by the concentration in ascorbic acid used as reducing agent. The chemical structures obtained were characterized by FT-IR, and by 1H and 13C NMR. The thermal properties of the graft copolymers synthesized were studied by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The presence of two Tgs, at about -14°C and 99°C respectively, on the DSC curves when the amounts of PMMA in NR-g-PMMAs are higher than 65 wt%, shows that these materials adopt a biphasic morphology.