Carbocationnic initiators for the polymerization of olefins

合成聚合物化学构成了塑料、纤维和橡胶工业的基础。该项目涉及改进丁基橡胶的制备方法，丁基橡胶是一种重要的商业合成聚合物，广泛应用于从轮胎到医用隔膜到口香糖等领域。丁基橡胶是由异丁烯和异戊二烯在-100℃的碳阳离子共聚制备的。这一困难而具有挑战性的反应需要一种能够产生高活性碳阳离子并通过正负离子相互作用稳定该物种的引发剂。在NSERC CRD项目和我们的合作伙伴Arlanxeo Canada Inc.的支持下，我们发现了一类用于烯烃聚合的新型阳离子引发剂。已经提交了专利申请。这些新型引发剂的主要优势在于，它们可以在-100℃以上的温度下提高聚合性能。此外，与使用传统引发剂系统制备的橡胶相比，它们生产的橡胶具有独特的微观结构。拟议的研究将旨在探索这些新引发剂系统的范围，并将这项研究推向商业化。我们的合作伙伴Arlanxeo公司是特种化学品领域的领导者，在安大略省萨尼亚每年生产约15万吨丁基橡胶，其全球丁基橡胶研发中心位于安大略省伦敦。

Synthetic polymer chemistry forms the basis of the plastics, fibres and rubber industries. This project involves the development of improved methods to prepare butyl rubber, a commercially important synthetic polymer that finds widespread application in areas ranging from tires to medical septa to chewing gum. Butyl rubber is prepared by the carbocationic copolymerization of isobutylene and isoprene at -100 deg C. This difficult and challenging reaction requires an initiator that is capable of generating a highly reactive carbocation and stabilizing this species through cation-anion interactions. With previous support of the NSERC CRD program and our partner Arlanxeo Canada Inc., we discovered a new class of cationic initiator for the polymerization of olefins. A patent application has been submitted. These new initiators offer a major advantage in that they permit polymerization with improved performance at temperatures above -100 deg C. Moreover, the type of rubber that they produce has unique microstructure when compared to that prepared using a conventional initiator system. The proposed research will aim to explore the scope of these new initiator systems and to move this research towards commercialization by our partner. Our partner, Arlanxeo Inc., is a leader in specialty chemicals producing ca. 150,000 tonnes p. a. of butyl rubber in Sarnia, ON and their Global R&D Centre for Butyl Rubber is located in London, ON.