Autoxidation of polypropylene catalyzed by cobalt salt in the liquid phase

Abstract

AbstractThe autoxidation of isotactic polypropylene suspended in the organic solvent was found to proceed very rapidly in the presence of cobalt salts. The rate of oxidation increases and the induction period decreases as the concentration of the cobalt is increased. The rate of oxidation depends on solvent and is quite fast in fatty acids. Polypropylene has shown a rapid decrease in molecular weight at the initial stage of oxidation, and the volatile products were mainly composed of carbon dioxide and small amount of carbon monoxide. Other oxidation products were acetic acid‐soluble resinous materials, having molecular weights of 250–730, with a molar ratio of carbon to oxygen of 3.0–5.4. Atactic polypropylene, relatively stable against oxidation, was oxidized easily in the presence of cobalt and bromide ion. The difference in the rate of oxidation depending on the tacticity of polypropylene is attributed primarily to steric hindrance to the intramolecular hydrogen abstraction step.