Do‐it‐yourself functionalized silicones part 1: basic methods for characterization of commercial products

Abstract

AbstractConventional silicone fluids of varying composition, microstructure, and functionality are commercially available with a view to prepare films, elastomers, or resins. This paper is the first of a series of papers devoted to the synthesis, characterization, and application of vinyl and hydrido‐functionalized silicones. We present some basic analytical techniques useful to unacquainted people to fully characterize silicone fluids in terms of molar mass, purity, composition, structure, and functionality. Some commercial polymers were thus examined by size exclusion chromatography (SEC), from which molar masses were checked and compared with those from the provider (derived from viscosities). Two SEC‐derived techniques were used to confirm the perfect linearity of the chains. 1H and 29Si NMR spectrograms were recorded, from which chemical shifts gave the position of the functional groups (either at both chain‐ends or inside the chains) and from which intensities of the NMR signals provided quantitative data, namely number‐average molar mass Mn and contents of functional groups. In the final part, special emphasis is laid on the microstructure of the chains. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.