Method of controlling the polymerization of acrylates

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of controlling the polymerization of acrylates using a catalyst which is selected from at least one of zinc, cadmium or mercury halides in combination with free iodine to give acrylate polymers having narrow molecular weight distributions, via group transfer polymerization.

Description: The present invention relates to a method of controlling the polymerization of acrylates using a catalyst which is selected from at least one of zinc, cadmium or mercury halides in combination with free iodine to give acrylate polymers having narrow molecular weight distributions, via group transfer polymerization. The catalysts used in the invention allow for the control of the polymerization to afford such polymers. Group transfer polymerization of acrylates is widely recognized as capable of producing living polymers with controlled and narrow molecular weight distributions and there are multiple publications setting forth such methods. The method generally includes the reacting of acrylic monomers, or mixtures of them, with initiators and a catalyst to obtain living polymers. Representative of the prior art are US-A 4,414,372; US-A 4,417,034 and US-A 4,508,880. The essence of the above disclosures is summarized in Macromolecules, Vol. 17, pp 1415 to 1417 (1984). This publication sets forth the details of the catalysts that have been found useful by the art. The article also teaches, page 1416, left hand column, at the bottom, that the catalysts must be used at levels of 10 to 20 mol% relative to monomer concentration to achieve complete conversions of acrylates and methacrylates. The present invention provides a method of controlling the polymerisation of acrylates, said method comprising contacting and reacting A. an initiator and B. one or more acrylic monomers in the presence of C. a catalyst, for a time and a temperature in the range of from O°C to 80°C sufficient to create a polyacrylate polymer selected from i. polyacrylate homopolymers, or ii. polyacrylate co-polymers, said catalyst being a mixture of at least one metal halide compound selected from Zn, Cd and Hg halides, mixed with I 2 , in a molar ratio of metal halide to I 2 of from 1.25:1 to less than 15:1, and wherein the monomer to initiator molar ratio is greater than 10. In another embodiment of our invention, the reaction is quenched after the desired polyacrylate polymer is formed. Further, this invention includes the polymers that are prepared by the methods disclosed and claimed herein. With regard to our invention, the term "living polymer" means a polymer which contains an active terminal group and is capable of polymerizing further in the presence of monomers and catalyst. We have surprisingly found that by combining free iodine with certain Lewis acid halides, a process is provided which gives polymers having narrow molecular weight distributions, higher molecular weights and nearly one hundred percent of conversion of the starting monomers. Our process contemplates the contacting of the reactants, that is, a monomer, or mixture of monomers and an initiator, with our catalyst, the heating of the reaction mixture at a temperature and for a period of time sufficient to convert essentially all of the monomer to polymer. Thus, the monomeric reactants useful in this method are those acrylate monomers which are suitable for this type of reaction and include those set forth in US-A 4,417,034 which teaches these monomers, it being understood by those skilled in the art that our invention does not deal with, nor include methacrylate monomers. More specifically, our monomers include methyl acrylate; butyl acrylate; sorbyl acrylate; ethyl acrylate; propargyl acrylate; 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl acrylate; 3,3-dimethoxypropyl acrylate; 3-methacryloxypropyl acrylate; 2,2,3,3,4,4,4-heptafluorobutyl acrylate; ethyl 2-cyanoacrylate; 4-fluorophenyl acrylate; 2-methacryloxyethyl acrylate; ethyl 2-chloroacrylate; phenyl acrylate; 2{(1-propenyl)oxy}ethyl acrylate; and allyl acrylate. Preferred monomers include methyl acrylate; ethyl acrylate; butyl acrylate; sorbyl acrylate; 2-methacryloxyethyl acrylate; propargyl acrylate and neopentyl glycol diacrylate. Methyl acrylate, propargyl acrylate and neopentyl glycol diacrylate are more preferred. Initiators useful in our process are well-known in the art, for example, US-As 4,754,046, 5,208,358, 4,783,543 and 5,247,112. More specifically, initiators useful in this invention include silanes such as {(1-methoxy-2-methyl-1-propenyl)oxy}trimethyl-silane; 2-(trimethylsilyl)isobutyronitrile; ethyl 2-(trimethylsilyl) acetate; trimethylsilyl nitrile; ((4,5-dihydro-2― furanyl)oxy}trimethylsilane; {(2-methyl-1-propenylidene)bis(oxy)}bis{trimethylsilane}; {(2-methyl-1-{2-(methoxymethoxy)ethoxy}-1-propenyl)oxy}trimethylsilane and methyl{(2-methyl-1-(trimethylsilyloxy)-1-propenyl)oxy}acetate. The ratio of the monomer to the initiator will determine the molecular weight of the polymer. Low levels of initiator give higher molecular weights. Too much initiator will give mostly oligomeric materials. Thus, the initiator is employed at a concentration such that the monomer to initiator molar ratio is greater than 10, preferably greater than 100. The monomers and initiators useful in this process are generally liquids and can be polymerized without a solvent, although a solvent is beneficial in controlling temperature during the exothermic polymerization reaction which is common with this type of process. A solvent found useful in this invention are aprotic liquids in which the monomer, initiator and catalyst are sufficiently soluble for the reaction to occur. Thus, such solvents include toluene, xylene, the so-called crown ethers, acetonitrile, tetrahydrofuran, ethyl acetate, propionitrile, bromobenzene, dimethoxyethane, diethoxyethane, diethylether, tetramethylenesulfone, N,N-dimethylformamide, N,N-dimethylacetamide, N-methylpyrrolidone, anisole, 2-butoxyethoxytrimethylsilane, other low boiling silanes and the like. Preferred solvents are toluene and xylene. When a solvent is used, the monomer may be dissolved therein at concentrations of at least five weight percent (the solvent comprising 95 weight percent or less of the total mixture), preferably at least fifty weight percent. The time that the reaction can be run varies from a few minutes to a few days, preferably from 0.25 hours to 48 hours, depending on the temperature at which the reaction is carried out. The reaction is normally run within a few hours and quite often, the reaction is essentially complete in minutes. The temperature range for the reaction of this method is 0° to 80°C. Preferred is a temperature range of 25°C to 40°C. The catalyst, which is the essential feature of this invention, is formed from halides of zinc, cadmium or mercury. Preferred for this invention are the iodides and bromides and most preferred are the iodides. It is essential for the halides of this invention to be combined with free iodine, i.e. I 2 in order to form the catalyst of this invention. It is also contemplated to use mixed halides with the iodine. The useful molar ratio of zinc, cadmium or mercury halide to I 2 is on the order of at least 1.25:1 to less than 15 to 1. Most preferred for this invention is the combination of zinc iodide with free iodine in a ratio of 10 to 1. The catalyst is normally present in such an amount that the molar ratio of monomer to catalyst is in the range of 0.04 to 2 parts of catalyst to 100 parts of monomer and is preferably in the range of 0.08 or higher, to 100 parts of monomer. The order of addition of the monomers, initiator and catalyst is critical for this invention. For example, one should not add the I 2 to the initiator because they react with each other in the absence of metal halide. This, of course deactivates the initiator. More specifically, initiator can be decomposed by I 2 in the absence of metal halide. Thus, the preferred method is the addition of the initiator as quickly as possible to a combination of the monomers and catalyst in the reaction vessel. The solvent, if used, can be added at any stage, but is preferably added at the beginning of the reaction, before any addition of initiator takes place. Upon determining that the reaction has essentially been completed, for example, by showing the absence of any monomer in the reaction mass, the reaction can be stopped, i.e. quenched, by the addition of any active hydrogen source such as water or alcohol. Preferred for this invention are lower alcohols such as methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl and amyl, most preferred is methyl alcohol. This invention is useful for preparing homopolymers or copolymers of the monomers described above. With this invention, it is possible to create variation in polymer physical properties, such as glass transition temperature, hardness, heat distortion temperature and melt viscosity. The process of this invention can be used to prepare polymers containing one or more specifically located functional groups which are useful for subsequent preparation of block copolymers or crosslinked polymers, such as found in US-A 4,417,034. Now so that those skilled in the art can appreciate the scope and value of the invention the following examples are provided. Example 1 This example illustrates the molecular weight distribution of the polymers prepared by one embodiment of this invention. A catalyst was made by mixing 10 weight parts of ZnI 2 with one weight part of iodine. To a glass, round-bottomed, three-necked flask, equipped with a magnetic stirrer was loaded 0.02 grams of the catalyst, 20 grams of methyl acrylate and 20 grams of toluene. The mixture was purple in color at this point. The flask was cooled in a water bath. Upon stirring, 1.0 gram of was added to the mixture in the flask all in one addition. The purple color disappeared immediately after the introduction of the silane. After a very short induction period, an exothermic reaction was observed by touching the flask. The mixture was allowed to stir at room temperature overnight and then quenched with methanol. As methanol was added, a brownish purple color reappeared. The product mixture was washed with ten percent sodium thiosulfate twice, followed by water twice, then dried over sodium sulfate. Toluene and other volatiles, if any, were removed under reduced pressure to obtain a slightly yellowish viscous, clear polymer. Gas phase chromatography (GPC) analysis with THF as the mobile phase (0.35 weight percent/volume) and polystyrene as the standard gave the molecular weight data found in Table I. RESULTS OF GPC ANALYSIS Mn = 8825 Mw/Mn = 1.052 Mw = 9286 Mz/Mw = 1.045 Mz = 9701 Mz/Mn = 1.099 Example 2 A second polymer was made by preparing a catalyst by mixing nine weight parts of ZnI 2 with one weight part of iodine. To a flask equipped as set forth above, was added 0.02 grams of the catalyst, 2.0 grams of methyl acrylate and 20 grams of toluene. The mixture was purple in color. Upon stirring at room temperature, the silane used in Example 1 was added at a 1.0 gram level. The purple color disappeared immediately after the introduction of the silane. To the reaction flask was then added 2.5 grams of propargyl acrylate, followed by 18.0 grams of methyl acrylate. The reaction mixture became warm (45°C.). The mixture was allowed to stir at room temperature overnight (16 h) and then quenched with methanol. Toluene, and other volatiles if any, were removed under reduced pressure to obtain a viscous, clear polymer. GPC analysis with THF as the mobile phase (0.25 weight percent/volume) and polystyrene as the standard gave the following molecular weight data. RESULTS OF GPC ANALYSIS Mn = 10720 Mw/Mn = 1.197 Mw = 12830 Mz/Mw = 1.145 Mz = 14690 Mz/Mn = 1.371 An IR spectrum showed the polymer contained functional groups of C=O (1787 cm -1 ) and a carbon to carbon triple bond (2133 cm -1 ). No carbon to carbon double bond signal for the acrylic functionality was observed by IR. Example 3 Several runs were carried out to examine several variables by essentially the procedure as set forth in Examples 1 and 2. Table III reports the results of the runs. Example 4 Criticality of not adding I 2 to the initiator. (Treatment of sample 2 of this example falls outside of the scope of this invention.) A reaction was carried out using the material of sample 1 wherein, it will be noted, there was no free iodine present in the catalyst. This sample was subjected to 10 minutes of aging and then 0.4 part of free iodine was added to the mixture. Before the addition of the iodine and during the aging period, there was no reaction. However, upon the addition of the free iodine, the material instantly polymerized. Sample 2, having no ZnI 2 , was aged for 10 minutes in the presence of the free iodine and then 2 parts of ZnI 2 were added. There was no reaction within a thirty minute period. It is believed that the contact of the free iodine with the initiator in the reactants deactivated the initiator. RESULTS OF VARIABLES EXAMINATION SAMPLE NUMBER AMT.OF MI 2 /I 2 RATIO X:1 CATALYST/100 PARTS MONOMER MONOMER TYPE OBSERVATION 1 2/0 0 2.0 NPGDA No react./10 min. 2 0/0.8 0 .8 NPGDA No react./10 min. 3 0.19/0.01 19 0.2 NPGDA No react./48 hr. 4 1.8/0.2 9 2.0 NPGDA Instant polymer. 5 1.8/0.2 9 2.0 MA Instant polymer. 6 0.033/0.007 4.7 0.04 NPGDA Polymeriz./2-4 hr 7 0.164/0.036 4.6 0.2 NPGDA Instant polymer. 8 0.030/0.010 3 0.04 NPGDA Polymeriz./2-4 hr 9 0.149/0.051 2.9 0.2 NPGDA Instant polymer. 10 0.029/0.011 2.6 0.04 NPGDA Polymeriz/2-16 hr 11 0.143/0.057 2.5 0.2 NPGDA Instant polymer. 12 0.027/0.013 2.1 0.04 NPGDA Polymeriz./2-4 hr 13 0.134/0.066 2.0 .2 NPGDA Instant polymer. 14 0.111/0.089 1.25 0.2 NPGDA Instant polymer. 15 0.022/0.018 1.22 0.04 NPGDA No react./48 hr. Example 5 A reaction was carried out at room temperature using 100 grams of neopentyl glycol diacrylate, 5 grams of the initiator of Example 1 and 0.9 grams of ZnBr 2 /I 2 in the ratio of 1.25:1. The reactants polymerized, but slower than those of Examples 1 and 2. Example 6 A reaction was carried out at room temperature using 100 grams of neopentyl glycol diacrylate, 5 grams of the initiator of Example 1 and 1.0 gram of HgBr 2 /I 2 in the ratio of 1.56:1. The reactants polymerized, but slower than those of Examples 1 and 2.

Claims: A method of controlling the polymerisation of acrylates, said method comprising contacting and reacting A. an initiator and B. one or more acrylic monomers in the presence of C. a catalyst, for a time and a temperature in the range of from O°C to 80°C sufficient to create a polyacrylate polymer selected from i. polyacrylate homopolymers, or ii. polyacrylate co-polymers, said catalyst being a mixture of at least one metal halide compound selected from Zn, Cd and Hg halides, mixed with I 2 , in a molar ratio of metal halide to I 2 of from 1.25:1 to less than 15:1, and wherein the monomer to initiator molar ratio is greater than 10. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the molar ratio of monomer to initiator is greater than 100. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein there is additionally present a solvent comprising 95 weight percent or less of the total mixture. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the time of reaction is in the range of 0.25 hours to 48 hours. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the temperature is in the range of 25°C to 40°C. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which the catalyst is present in the range of 0.04 to 2 molar parts, based on 100 molar parts of monomer. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the acrylic monomer is methyl acrylate. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the acrylic monomer is neopentyl glycol diacrylate. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein component B is a mixture of acrylate monomers.

Inventors: YEH MING-HSIUNG, YEH, MING-HSIUNG
Applicants: DOW CORNING, DOW CORNING CORPORATION
Application year: 1995
Main classification: C08F20
IPC codes: C08F4, C08F20, C08F2