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DOI: 10.1021/ma101803h
ABSTRACT: The structural details of a set of highly entangled H-shaped polybutadienes (PBDs) prepared
by anionic polymerization were examined in detail by three reputable laboratories using size exclusion
chromatography (SEC) and temperature gradient interaction chromatography (TGIC). While SEC data
indicated that samples having the desired structures (i.e., nearly monodisperse H-shaped polymer) had been
produced, additional SEC data from other laboratories showed that the samples were structurally more
complex than originally thought. TGIC data revealed that while the samples did not contain high molecular
weight byproducts, they did contain low molecular weight byproducts. To discern these structural details of
the branched PBDs, small amounts of sample were fractionated by TGIC. By combining knowledge of the
polymerization process with the TGIC data of fractionated samples, it was possible to work out the detailed
compositions of the samples and the branching structures of each component.
Introduction had been obviated, the samples were considerably more complex
The polymers described here were synthesized for a study of than originally thought. This was discouraging from the point of
the effects of long-chain branching and polydispersity on the view of the intended rheological study, but if the detailed com-
rheological behavior of entangled polymers, the results of which position of the samples could somehow be discerned, they could
were to be used for the evaluation of molecular models of still be of use. We explain below how this was accomplished. The
viscoelasticity. The desired structural details (arm and crossbar H-PBD samples are named according to the intended molecular
lengths) of these polymers were estimated prior to synthesis so weights of the arms and crossbars; e.g., “HA12B40” denotes a
that the polymers would be highly entangled but with terminal sample with four arms of equal molar mass of 12 kg/mol and a
behavior accessible using available rheometric techniques. In crossbar with a molar mass of 40 kg/mol.
order to facilitate the evaluation of molecular models as pre-
dictors of rheological behavior, a series of molecularly uniform Experimental Section
H-shaped polybutadienes (H-PBDs) with a high concentration of Synthesis of H-PBDs. A novel strategy for preparing H-PBDs
1,4-addition were required, and polydispersity was to be generated by anionic polymerization was developed by Rahman et al.2 in
by blending. In this way the detailed structures of the samples order to minimize the formation of high molecular weight by-
would be known. H-PBD was chosen because H is the simplest products like those reported by Perny et al.3 It is based on the
structure containing two branch points, and PBD has a relatively idea that the coupling of two side arms with trichloromethylsi-
low molecular weight between entanglements (Me = 2 kg/mol1) lane prior to any reaction with the crossbar should significantly
among polymers that can be synthesized by anionic polymeriza- reduce the production of high molecular weight byproducts.4
tion. The preference for high 1,4-addition is due to the fact that This method requires the use of high-vacuum and ampouliza-
1,2-addition results in a vinyl side group (a short branch), and the tion techniques.5 Details of the synthesis procedures and dilute
double bond on the vinyl side group is vulnerable to cross-linking. solution properties have been described previously.2 In general,
A novel anionic polymerization method2 was used to prepare the synthesis involves a difunctional diphenylethylene-based
samples having the desired characteristics. coupling agent 4-(dichloromethylsilyl)diphenylethylene (DCM-
While size exclusion chromatography (SEC) data indicated SDPE), sec-BuLi, butadiene, and benzene. As shown in Figure 1,
the synthesis consists of five main steps, and this reaction scheme
that this synthesis method had produced the desired materials,
will be used to infer the molecular structures of the resulting
later analyses using SEC with different chromatographic detectors polymers in a later section.
and temperature gradient interaction chromatography (TGIC) Determination of Isomeric Composition. To elucidate micro-
revealed that while the production of high molecular byproducts structures, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was used. As
the sensitivity and resolution of NMR spectra increase with
*Corresponding author. E-mail: john.dealy@mcgill.ca. magnetic field strength, the characteristic peaks for cis and trans
Characterization by SEC. It is well-known that the molar by SEC-3 were broader than those found by SEC-1, likely
mass averages and molar mass distributions (MMDs) deter- due to better separation in SEC-3. For HA30B40 and
mined by SEC can vary significantly from one laboratory to HA40B40, the molecular weights found by SEC-3 were com-
another, and a comparison of data from 15 sources for a parable to those found by SEC-1. However, lower molecular
branched polyethylene revealed an interlaboratory variabil- weights were indicated for the other samples using SEC-3
ity for Mw of about 18% regardless of the detectors used.17
Possible causes of these variations in molar mass average and
MMD among different laboratories have been examined in
detail by Trathnigg.18 And in our study, the molar mass
averages and MMDs determined in three laboratories were
quite different from each other. The average molar masses
determined by SEC are listed in Table 2. An “arm” is the
product of step 2 in Figure 1, “1/2-H” refers to that of step 4
in Figure 1, and “final product” refers to that of step 5, al-
though this may contain byproducts other than an H mole-
cule, even after fractionation using toluene/methanol as the
solvent/nonsolvent pair.2
Since the molar mass characterization by SEC-1 was
performed in parallel with the synthesis,2 it is the only one
that provides information on precursors at various stages of
polymerization. In other words, it contains molar mass
information on arms and 1/2-Hs. Complete elution curves
at various stages of polymerizations can be found in a pre-
vious publication.2 Generally, the SEC-1 elution profiles of
final products, shown in Figure 2, had single peaks and narrow
distributions. Moreover, a previous study on the branching
parameter g for our samples showed very good to fair agreement
with literature values on H-shaped polystyrene.2
However, the RI elution profiles for the same final pro-
ducts characterized by SEC-2, as shown in Figure 3, had Figure 2. SEC-1 (LS response at 15) elution profiles on final products;
double peaks except for HA12B40. The molecular weights at samples were analyzed in THF at 40 C at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min.
the two peaks are in a ratio of about 1:2, indicating the
presence of 1/2-H molecules, which are equivalent to asym-
metric 3-arm stars, implying that most of the samples were
actually mixtures of H molecules and asymmetric 3-arm stars
(1/2-H). The weight fraction calculated from the area under
the peaks after deconvolution of the RI signal by a Gaussian
distribution indicates that the amount of 1/2-H material is
significant, ranging from 0 to 47 wt %, as shown in Table 2.
We note that the MMD obtained from SEC-2 was the
broadest of the distributions from the three laboratories.
The elution profiles obtained by SEC-3 shown in Figure 4
also indicate the presence of low molecular weight bypro-
ducts in most of the samples. In most cases, MMDs obtained
Figure 6. The most possible byproducts formed in the H-PBD synthesis. The number shown in brackets corresponds to the structure identification
number shown in Figure 7, while the length of each segment is shown in parentheses with a and b equal to the arm length shown in Table 2 and the
crossbar length calculated by eq 4, respectively.
We estimated Mn,crossbar (Mn of the crossbar) by use of most likely to be produced during synthesis according to the
eq 4: composition of arms and crossbars indicated in parentheses
in Figure 7. The formation of byproducts other than those
Mn, crossbar ¼ Mn, highest molecular component - 4Mn, arm ð4Þ shown in Figure 7, with higher molar masses or more com-
plicated structures (e.g., branch-on-branch) is possible but very
where Mn,arm is Mn of the arm given in Table 2. Using Mn,crossbar unlikely due to steric hindrance of the bulky aromatic groups in
and Mn,arm, we calculated the Mn values of the byproducts the DCMSDPE and the poor mobility of a heavy molecule.
Article Macromolecules, Vol. 44, No. 2, 2011 213
Conclusions
Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) techniques were un-
able to resolve the structural compositions of our long chain
branched polymers containing various byproducts due to its
inherent low resolution. Furthermore, data depending on
sample treatment, quality of the separation columns, data
acquisition, and processing revealed significant variation in
SEC results among three reputable laboratories. Nonetheless,
the SEC results implied that samples originally thought to be
monodisperse H-shaped polymers were more complex, and
this was confirmed by temperature gradient interaction chro-
matography (TGIC) analysis. We combined knowledge of the
synthesis mechanism with TGIC data to infer the detailed
structural composition of the samples. The results showed that
while the synthesis method had successfully obviated the
production of high-molecular-weight byproducts, our poly-
mers were mixtures of the intended H molecules with low-
molecular-weight linear, 3-arm star, and 4-arm star bypro-
ducts. This made it possible to use these samples for further
rheological and molecular modeling studies. At the same time,
the results clearly demonstrated the limitation in the SEC-
based characterization of branched polymers and the necessity
of employing complementary tools such as TGIC for a rigorous
characterization.
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