Abstract
The properties of a polymer are known to be intrinsically related to its molecular weight distribution (MWD); however, previous methodologies of MWD control do not use a design and result in arbitrary shaped MWDs. Here we report a precise design to synthesis protocol for producing a targeted MWD design with a simple to use, and chemistry agnostic computer-controlled tubular flow reactor. To support the development of this protocol, we constructed general reactor design rules by combining fluid mechanical principles, polymerization kinetics, and experiments. The ring opening polymerization of lactide, the anionic polymerization of styrene, and the ring opening metathesis polymerization are used as model polymerizations to develop the reactor design rules and synthesize MWD profiles. The derivation of a mathematical model enables the quantitative prediction of the experimental results, and this model provides a tool to explore the limits of any MWD design protocol.
Highlights
The properties of a polymer are known to be intrinsically related to its molecular weight distribution (MWD); previous methodologies of MWD control do not use a design and result in arbitrary shaped MWDs
The key feature of this approach is the ability to a-priori calculate the reactor flow rates needed to turn a MWD design into an actual polymer sample, which we describe as a design to synthesis protocol
We developed a mathematical model that quantitatively predicts the experimental results, and enables us to explore the limit of any MWD design protocol that implements controlled polymerizations
Summary
The properties of a polymer are known to be intrinsically related to its molecular weight distribution (MWD); previous methodologies of MWD control do not use a design and result in arbitrary shaped MWDs. The key feature of this approach is the ability to a-priori calculate the reactor flow rates needed to turn a MWD design into an actual polymer sample, which we describe as a design to synthesis protocol The development of this protocol is supported by in-depth fluid mechanics and polymerization kinetics studies. These fundamental studies led us to establish the guiding principles for the design and operation of tubular flow reactors We apply these principles for the synthesis of polymers with tailored MWDs. In addition, we developed a mathematical model that quantitatively predicts the experimental results, and enables us to explore the limit of any MWD design protocol that implements controlled polymerizations
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