Cationic Polymerization in Clusters and in the Gas Phase

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9311643 El-Shall In this project in the Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, El-Shall will apply new techniques to study cationic polymerization in clusters and in the gas phase. The different reaction pathways and mechanisms following ionic initiation in van der Waals clusters of olefins will be characterized, and the resulting polymeric ions will be identified. Rate information on related gas-phase reactions will be studied by ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) and high-pressure mass spectroscopy. New initiation mechanisms involving transition metal ions and charge-transfer will also be explored. %%% This project involves the study of chemical processes in which reagent molecules (called monomers) react to continually add together to form what eventually becomes a very large molecule, called a polymer. Polymers have considerable commercial application in such diverse areas as plastics and textiles. This work will investigate the reaction steps involved in selected polymerization processes and will attempt to find new mechanisms by which polymers with desirable properties, such as electrical conductivity, can be produced. The results of these studies may impact important commercial processes. ***