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Sulfonation studies of copolymers, graft copolymers, and polymeric gels using phase transfer catalysts
Author(s) -
Paul Swaraj,
Rånby Bengt
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1981.070261137
Subject(s) - comonomer , copolymer , polymer chemistry , glycidyl methacrylate , polymer , materials science , styrene , methacrylate , cellulose , polyelectrolyte , polystyrene , acrylonitrile , divinylbenzene , phase (matter) , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , engineering
Abstract A new sulfonation method using phase transfer catalysts was applied to sulfonate a number of polymer matrices in an aqueous two‐phase system. The polymer matrices included in this study are (1) styrene (Sty) and acrylonitrile (AN) copolymers with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), (2) graft copolymers of cellulose with GMA, and (3) polystyrene and polyacrylate gels containing GMA as comonomer. The presence of polar groups such as AN in the polymer matrix makes the sulfonation easier. For cellulose graft copolymers, the extent of sulfonation was not much affected by the phase transfer catalysts, presumably due to the high polarity and high water uptake capacity of the cellulose base. For other polymer gels, the following factors influence the extent of sulfonation: (1) the method of gel synthesis, i.e., gels synthesized by delayed addition of GMA give a higher degree of sulfonation; (2) the nature of the crosslinking agent, i.e., gels with ethylene glycol diacrylate (EGDA) gives a higher degree of sulfonation than gels with divinylbenzene (DVB); (3) the pore size of the gels, i.e., gels with larger pore sizes gave higher degree of sulfonation; (4) increasing polarity of the backbone structure of gels favors increased sulfonation, e.g., MMA–GMA–EGDA gels give 54% sulfonation, whereas Sty–GME–EGDA gives only 38%.