Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C08—ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
  • C08F—MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVING CARBON-TO-CARBON UNSATURATED BONDS
  • C08F4/00—Polymerisation catalysts
  • C08F4/42—Metals; Metal hydrides; Metallo-organic compounds; Use thereof as catalyst precursors
  • C08F4/44—Metals; Metal hydrides; Metallo-organic compounds; Use thereof as catalyst precursors selected from light metals, zinc, cadmium, mercury, copper, silver, gold, boron, gallium, indium, thallium, rare earths or actinides
  • C08F4/60—Metals; Metal hydrides; Metallo-organic compounds; Use thereof as catalyst precursors selected from light metals, zinc, cadmium, mercury, copper, silver, gold, boron, gallium, indium, thallium, rare earths or actinides together with refractory metals, iron group metals, platinum group metals, manganese, rhenium technetium or compounds thereof
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C08—ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
  • C08F—MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVING CARBON-TO-CARBON UNSATURATED BONDS
  • C08F212/00—Copolymers of compounds having one or more unsaturated aliphatic radicals, each having only one carbon-to-carbon double bond, and at least one being terminated by an aromatic carbocyclic ring
  • C08F212/02—Monomers containing only one unsaturated aliphatic radical
  • C08F212/04—Monomers containing only one unsaturated aliphatic radical containing one ring
  • C08F212/06—Hydrocarbons
  • C08F212/08—Styrene
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C08—ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
  • C08F—MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVING CARBON-TO-CARBON UNSATURATED BONDS
  • C08F212/00—Copolymers of compounds having one or more unsaturated aliphatic radicals, each having only one carbon-to-carbon double bond, and at least one being terminated by an aromatic carbocyclic ring
  • C08F212/02—Monomers containing only one unsaturated aliphatic radical
  • C08F212/04—Monomers containing only one unsaturated aliphatic radical containing one ring
  • C08F212/06—Hydrocarbons
  • C08F212/08—Styrene
  • C08F212/10—Styrene with nitriles

Definitions

• This invention relates to copolymerization processes; more particularly, this invention relates to processes for the preparation of copolymers comprising sequences of alternating monomer residues, and to copolymers so prepared.
• Mixtures of monomers which are capable of copolymerizing when treated with a conventional polymerization catalyst normally form copolymers in which the residues of the monomers are distributed in a more or less random manner along the polymer chain. It has recently been shown that certain monomer mixtures react in the presence of a Lewis acid to give alternating copolymers i.e.
• This invention seeks to provide an improved process for the preparation of copolymers comprising sequences of alternating monomer residues such that they may readily be obtained using comparatively small proportions of Lewis acid thus providing an easier and more economical process.
• a transition metal complex comprising at least one ⁇ -acid ligand;
• an organic compound which may be a polymer, comprising at least one carbon-halogen bond, an acetylenic bond or an ethylenic bond conjugated with one or more electron attracting (-R) groups; and
• Donor monomers include those mono- or poly-unsaturated compounds having no (-R) substituent conjugated with the or each unsaturated bond and having at most two, preferably at most one, (-I) substituent bonded to any given unsaturated carbon-carbon bond. Classes of such compounds include unsubstituted or substituted hydrocarbons, (thio)ethers, (thio)esters or (thio)amides. Suitable unsubstituted or substituted hydrocarbons include:
• R 1 and R 2 which may be the same or different, each represents a hydrogen or halogen atom or an unsubstituted or halosubstituted C 1 to C 20 hydrocarbyl group; (v) an internal olefinically unsaturated compound of the general formula:
• R 3 and R 4 which may be the same or different, each represents an unsubstituted or halo-substituted C 1 to C 20 hydrocarbyl group;
• R represents a hydrogen atom or an unsubstituted or halosubstituted C 1 to C 20 hydrocarbyl group;
• R 6 represents an unsubstituted or halo-substituted C 1 to C 20 hydrocarbylene group;
• R 8 represents a hydrogen atom or a polymerisable unsaturated group containing C 2 to C 20 hydrocarbyl group
• donor monomers include ethylene, propylene, butene-1, butene-2, isobutylene, pentene-1, pentene-2, 2-methylbutene-1.
• Suitable (thio)ethers, (thio)esters or (thio)amides have the general formula:
• R 9 represents an unsubstituted or substituted C 1 to C 20 hydrocarbyl group
• R 10 represents a polymerisable unsaturated group containing C 2 to C 20 hydrocarbyl group
• R 11 represents a C 1 to C 20 hydrocarbylene group
• R 12 represents a hydrogen atom or a C 1 to C 20 hydrocarbyl group
• Z represents an oxygen or sulphur atom
• Y represents an oxygen or sulphur atom or an -NR 12 group
• m represents zero or 1.
• donor monomers include vinyl acetate, vinyl propionate, vinyl pelargonate, vinyl-2-ethyl- hexanecarboxylate, vinyl stearate, ethylvinyl oxalate, vinyl chloroacetate, vinyl thiolacetate, vinyl benzoate, vinyl cyclohexanecarboxylate, vinyl-norbornane-2-carboxylate, allyl acetate, allyl laurate, allyl cyclobutanecarboxylate,
• 2-chloroallyl acetate isopropenyl acetate, ⁇ -methallyl acetate, 1-propenyl acetate, 1 Bobutenyl butyrate, N-vinylacetamide, N-allyl-N-methyl-propionic acide amide, N-vinylbenzoic acid amide, N-vinylthioacetamide, N- vinylpyrrolidone, N-vinylpiperidone, N-vinylcaprolactam and vinyl ether.
• Mixtures of two or more donor monomers may be used in which case the different donor monomer residues will be distributed in a random manner as the alternating donor monomer residues in the copolymer chain.
• Acceptor monomers include those unsaturated compounds which form a complex with a Lewis acid.
• Preferred such compounds include olefinically unsaturated compounds having a (-R) substituent conjugated with an unsaturated bond.
• Suitable olefinically unsaturated compounds have the general formula:
• R I and R II which may be the same or different, each represents a hydrogen or halogen atom or an unsubstituted or halo-substituted C 1 to C 20 hydrocarbyl group, with the proviso that at least one of R and R represents a hydrogen atom;
• Q represents a nitrile group or a group of the formula:
• Y' represents a group of the formula Z"R' ,
• NR"R'" or R"", Z' and Z" which may be the same or different, each represents an oxygen or sulphur atom
• R' , R" , R" ' or R" which may be the same or different, each represents a hydrogen atom or a C 1 to C 20 hydrocarbyl group, with the proviso that R"" may also represent a halogen atom and R" and R'" may, together with the nitrogen atom to which they are bonded, represent an N-linked heterocyclic group, and
• Me represents a salifying metal of valency n.
• acceptor monomers examples include methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, n-butyl acrylate, n-amyl acrylate, n-octylacrylate, octadecyl acrylate, allyl acrylate, o-toluyl.
• Mixtures of two or more acceptor monomers may be used in which case the different acceptor monomers will be distributed in a random manner as alternating acceptor monomer residues along the copolymer chain.
• the transmition metal complex (i) may be any such complex stabilised in a low oxidation state, typically
• a ⁇ -acid ligand Generally the transition metal will be Cr, Mo, W, Mn, Re, Fe, Ru, Os, Co, Rh, Ir, Ni , Pd or Pt, notably Cr, Mo, W, Mn, Re, Fe, Co, Ni and Pt, especially Mn, Re and Ni.
• Suitable ⁇ -acid ligands are organometallic such ligands and mono- or polydentate alkyl and aryl phosphines and phosphites, and mono- and polydentate pyridines. Examples of organometallic such ligands include carbonyl, alkyl and aryl isocyanides, and organic compounds, notably hydrocarbons, comprising acetylenic, olefinicand aromatic unsaturation.
• transition metal complexes (i) one or more such ⁇ -acid ligands may be present.
• Other ligands may also be present.
• transition metal complexes examples include
• Mo(CO) 6 Mo(CO) 5 Py; (CO) 4 Mo(PMe 2 ) 2 Mo(CO) 4 ; (CO) 5 MoPMe 2 PMe 2 Mo (CO) 5 : (CO) 5 MoPEt 2 PEt 2 Mo(CO) 5 ; W(CO) 6 ; Cr(CNAr) 6 ; Mo(CNAr) 6 ; W(CNAr) 6 ; Mn 2 (CO) 10 ; (C 5 H 5 )Mn(CO) 3 ; Re 2 (CO) 10 ; Re 2 (co) 8 (PPh 3 ) 2 ; Re(CO) 3 (PPh 3 ) 2 ; Fe(CO) 5 ; Fe(CO) 4 (PPh 3 ); Fe(CO) 5 (PPh 3 ) 2 (CO) 3 Fe(PMe 2 ) 2 Fe(CO) 3 ; (CO) 3 BrFe(PMe 2 ) 2
• the organic compound (ii) may be any compound from which a chlorine or bromine atom may be removed during the reaction.
• bromo compounds are more active than chloro compounds and activity is greatest in those compounds having more than one chlorine or bromine atom on one carbon atom or in which a further electron withdrawing substituent is adjacent to the halogenated carbon atom.
• Examples of such compounds are compounds containing CCI 3 or CBr 3 groups, such as CCI 4 , CHCI 3 ,
• N-bromo amides or amides such as N-bromosuccinimide and N-chloro-substituted nylon may also be used.
• Saturated fluorine compounds containing no chlorine or bromine are inactive; iodine compounds have a propensity to liberate molecular iodine which acts as a retarder.
• Chlorine and bromine-containing donor or acceptor monomers may also serve as component (ii).
• Other photoinitiating compounds (ii) in which halogen is not removed are organic compounds comprising an acetylenic bond or an ethylenic bond conjugated with one or more (-R) groups.
• Examples include acetylene and acetylene mono and dicarboxylic acids and their esters, such as acetylenedicarboxylic acid and dimethylacetylenedicarboxylate; olefinic mono and dicarboxylic acids, their esters and anhydrides, such as diethylfumarate, diethyl maleate and maleic anhydride.
• the Lewis acid (iii) suitably has the general empirical formula: wherein:
• M represents an aluminium or boron atom
• R v represents a hydrocarbyl group
• X represents a fluorine, chlorine or bromine atom; and n represents zero or any number, including fractional numbers, up to and including three; or comprises a mixture of a Group IIB, IIIB or IVB organometallic compound with a Group IIIB or IVB halide.
• Examples include methylaluminium dichloride, ethylaluminium dichloride, isobutylaluminium dichloride, hexylaluminium dichloride, dodecylaluminium dichloride, phenylaluminium dichloride, cyclohexylaluminium dichloride, methylaluminium dibromide, allylaluminium dichloride, ethylaluminium sesquichloride, ethylaluminium sesquibromide, methylaluminium sesquichloride, diethylaluminium chloride, ethylphenylaluminium chloride, dicyclohexylaluminium chloride, methylboron dichloride, ethylboron dichloride, butylboron, dichloride, hexylboron dichloride, dodecylboron dichloride, phenylboron dichloride, benzylboron dichloride,
• sesquichloride ethylaluminium dichloride, trimethylgallium, triethylgallium, triethylindium, tetraethylgermanium, tetramethyltin, tetraethylti ⁇ , tetraisobutyltin, dimethyldiethyltin, tetraphenyltiri, tetrabenzyltin, diethyldiphenyltin, triethyltin chloride, diethyltin dichloride, ethyltin trichloride, tetramethyllead, tetraethyllead, dimethyldiethyllead, and triethyllead chloride, mixed with one or more of boron trichloride, boron trifluoride, boron triboromide, boron triiodide, ethylboron.
• dichloride diethylboron chloride, aluminium trichloride, aluminium tribromide, aluminium triiodine, partially fluorinated aluminium chloride, ethylaluminium dichloride, methylaluminium dibromide, ethylaluminium sesquichloride, diethylaluminium chloride, gallium trichloride, gallium dichloride, germanium tetrachloride, tin tetrachloride, tin tetrabromide, ethyltin trichloride, methyltin trichloride, phenyltin trichloride, dimethyltin dibromide, diethyltin dichloride, diisobutyltin dichloride, triethyltin chloride, lead tetrachloride, and diethyllead dichloride.
• the process is suitably effected in absence of oxygen, conveniently in vacuum or under a blanket of an inert gas, for example nitrogen.
• the copolymer may be isolated by any conventional method, for example by precipitation by a non-solvent such as methanol.
• a slightly elevated temperature for example between 60o and 100o.
• Organometallic derivatives of molybdenum are especially suitable for use within this temperature range, while those of nickel may have sufficient activity for use down to ambient temperatures.
• the rate of polymerization may be increased by irradiating the process mixture with ultra-violet light.
• Suitable concentrations of either monomer in the process mixture are up to 2 mol per litre.
• Suitable amounts of catalyst will depend on the activity of the catalyst chosen but amounts down to 0.002 mol % of monomer may be used in favourable cases.
• Suitable amounts of the compound (ii) will depend on the activity of the compound and also on the nature of the transition metal complex (i). Carbon tetrachloride may be used in amounts down to 0.5 mol % of monomer, but with carbon tetrabromide this may be reduced to 0.05 mol %.
• Amounts of Lewis acid (iii) down to 5 mol % of monomer may be used.
• component (ii) may itself comprise a polymer which comprises at least one carbon-halogen bond.
• Such polymers can be produced by free radical polymerization, which may proceed in accordance with the invention or conventionally, in the presence of a monomeric organic compound comprising at least one carbonhalogen bond.
• a halogen-containing fragment of the organic compound will be present as a terminal group in a homopolymer or a random or alternating copolymer. Two examples will make this clear:
• Such polymers can also be produced, with a plurality of pendant halogen-containing groups, by homo- or random or alternating copolymerising olefinically unsaturated monomers containing them; for example vinyl trichloracetate can be homo- polymerised to:
• a block or graft alternating copolymer prepared by the process of the invention and utilising, as component (ii) a polymer as hereinabove defined.
• Such polymers may comprise one or a plurality of alternating blocks, for example: AAAAACBr 2 BDBDBD ...
• AAABABBAABCBr 2 DEDEDE ...AAABABBAABCBr 2 DEDEDE... ABABABCBr 2 DEDEDE... or may comprise grafts with alternating branches, for example
• These branches may cross-link the backbone chains.
• copolymers obtained are similar in arrangement of the monomer residues, in tacticities and in general properties, to those obtained by the conventional use of peroxide catalysts in presence of Lewis acids.
• copolymers are of utility in a number of ways. Control of the regularity of the copolymerization may provide copolymers of desired physical or chemical properties in greater consistency. Furthermore copolymers in which reactive groups are distributed regularly rather than at random may facilitate the manufacture of copolymers containing groups which may confer a variety of useful properties on the copolymer.
• Example 1 The invention is illustrated but not limited by the following Examples.
• Example 1 The invention is illustrated but not limited by the following Examples.
• Example 2 The procedure in Example 1 was repeated with 4.1 ml toluene, 3.12 g styrene, 0.86 g methylacrylate, 0.15 g carbon tetrachloride, 0.2 g Al 2 Et 3 Cl 3 and 0.0011 g Mn 2 (CO) 10 . The same product was obtained with a yield of 0.37 g.
• Example 3 The procedure in Example 1 was repeated with 100 ml toluene, 4.2 g of styrene, 3.4 g of methylacrylate, 1.54 g of carbon tetrachloride, 1.23 g of Al 2 Et 3 Cl 3 and 0.011 g of Mn 2 (CO) 10 .
• Example 4 100 ml of toluene, 4.2 g of styrene, 3.4 g of methyl acrylate, 1.54 g of carbon tetrachloride, 1.84 g of Al 2 Et 3 Cl 3 and 0.0038 g of Ni(C0) o were mixed, and degassed as described in Example 1. tube was sealed off and allowed to warm up to 25oC. The reaction mixture was held at 25oC for 0.5 hour without irradiation and then poured into excess methanol to give 3.0 g of alternating copolymer.
• Example 5 The procedure in Example 4 was repeated with 100 ml toluene,
• Example 6 The procedure in Example 1 was repeated with 5.3 ml toluene, 1.04 g styrene, 1.59 g acrylonitrile, 0.15 g carbon tetrachloride, 0.2 g Al 2 Et 3 Cl 3 and 0,0011 g Mn 2 (CO) 10 .
• the yield of alternating copolymer was 0.20 g.
• Example 7 The procedure in Example 1 was repeated with 4.3 ml toluene, 3-12 g styrene, 0.53 g acrylonitrile, 0.15 g carbon tetrachloride, 0.2 g Al 2 Et 3 Cl 3 and 0.0011 g Mn 2 (CO) 10 .
• the yield of alternating copolymer was 0.28 g.
• Example 8 Repetition of the procedure of Example 1 using 100 ml toluene, 3-4 g of methylacrylate, 2.2 g of butadiene, 1.54 g of carbon tetrachloride, 2.5 g of Al 2 Et 3 Cl 3 and 0.078 g of Mn 2 (CO) 10 afforded after irradiation for 1 hour 1.23 g of alternating copolymer. Omission of the manganese led to no copolymer.

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• Addition Polymer Or Copolymer, Post-Treatments, Or Chemical Modifications (AREA)
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• 1980
  • 1980-10-31 WO PCT/GB1980/000188 patent/WO1981001289A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
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