1,2-Butadiene → Benzene, ethenyl-, polymer with 1,3-butadiene

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Reaction Steps

75/25 Butadiene/styrene random copolymer was polymerized continuously using multichelic initiator in a reactor train consisting of two 3/8" diameter by 11" long Kenics static mixers as the scavenging reactor means, followed by a 5 gallon capacity stirred polymerization reactor. Fast poisons in the monomer, diluent, randomizer, and gel inhibitor were inactivated by adding to the feedstream in the scavenging reactors 0.02 phm n-butyllithium. This scavenging treatment allowed an increase in the 1,2-butadiene gel inhibitor level from 0.05 phm, which is typically used in this polymerization, to 0.08 phm while maintaining the desired 90-100 Mooney viscosity (ML-4 as described in ASTM D1646-74). This increase in gel inhibitor resulted in a 575-hour gel-free polymerization.

Provenance & Evidence