Abstract:
A set of time resolved gel-permeation chromatography (GPC) profiles, for the reaction mixture of a well-defined polymeric silane coupling agent, triethoxysilyl-terminated polystyrene with molecular weight equal to 8000 (TESi-PS), catalyzed by HBr (0.1 mol/kg) in tetrahydrofuran (THF), was measured over a long time scale (1 - 768 h). The GPC profiles were then converted to two-dimensional (2D) correlation spectra. The 2D-GPC correlation spectra were compared with those for the HCl and CH3SO3H (0.1mol/kg)-catalyzed TESi-PS -THF systems. It has been demonstrated that predominant production of less-reactive oligomers in the HBr and HCI-catalyzed system hinders further growth of the oligomer, while formation of reactive oligomers leads to further growth of polymeric precursors in the CH 3SO3H-catalyzed system.
