Molecular Architecture of Multi‐Block Polymer Synthesized in a Dual‐Catalyst Single CSTR. Issue 3 (26th October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Konstantinov, Ivan; Villa, Carlos; Karjala, Tom; Jain, Pradeep
• Is Part Of: Macromolecular reaction engineering. Volume 11:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2016-10-26
• Subjects: chain shuttling -- coordination polymerization -- CSTR -- multi‐block copolymers -- polyolefins; Polymers -- Periodicals; Polymerization -- Periodicals; Reaction mechanisms (Chemistry) -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 547.705
• DOI: 10.1002/mren.201600047
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1862-832X

Abstract

Abstract : Analytical solutions for multi‐block polymer synthesized in a dual‐catalyst single CSTR are provided in this work. The molecular architecture is explored via four dimensionless numbers ( X Q, Ω, DPn P, DPn Q ) which quantify the interplay between propagation, chain shuttling and termination. Among the quantities investigated are polydispersity ( PDI ) and number average blocks per chain ( T n ) Abstract : This work aims at deriving analytical solutions for the molecular architecture of multi‐block polymer synthesized in a dual‐catalyst single CSTR. While the relevant equations are developed for homopolymerization, they can easily be extended to copolymerization. Special emphasis is placed on the quantities associated with each catalyst rather than the overall ones. However, if all rate parameters are available, the expressions can be used to calculate the properties of the material made by each catalyst as well as the overall ones under various process conditions. Given the reasonable assumption of large residence time, the solutions are simplified to elucidate the kinetics of chain‐shuttling involving two catalysts. It is shown that systems with low chain‐shuttling ability, if DP P n, 0 ≠ DP Q n, 0, may exhibit significant deviation from Flory's most probable distribution. Furthermore, systems with high chain‐shuttling ability produce macromolecules with more uniform architecture and polydispersity index close to 2.