On the Favorability of the Initiation Reaction of Polymerization of Various Polymers
Session Number
Project ID: CHEM 08
Advisor(s)
Dr. Joseph Golab, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Discipline
Chemistry
Start Date
20-4-2022 10:45 AM
End Date
20-4-2022 11:00 AM
Abstract
Polymers such as polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and nylon are very useful materials; they’re used in everything from packaging to piping to other everyday plastics. Every polymer is made up of many, many monomers stitched together to make a new substance. Their syntheses are very elaborate processes and are made up of multiple steps. The step to focus on is the initiation step: the step in which a free radical bonds to a monomer in an addition reaction to create a modified monomer that now also has a free radical. This will lead into the next step, but that is beyond the scope of this project.
The initiation step of any polymerization reaction requires energy to start, and some polymers have more “energy expensive” initiation steps than others. The purpose of this project is to compare the initiation reactions of various polymers (polystyrene, PVC, nylon) and find the temperature at which their initiation is the most favored. The change in Gibbs free energy of each reaction will be studied and compared using SPARTAN computation to find the temperature at which it is the lowest. The results from this computation will be used to find the most “energy cheap” reaction.
On the Favorability of the Initiation Reaction of Polymerization of Various Polymers
Polymers such as polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and nylon are very useful materials; they’re used in everything from packaging to piping to other everyday plastics. Every polymer is made up of many, many monomers stitched together to make a new substance. Their syntheses are very elaborate processes and are made up of multiple steps. The step to focus on is the initiation step: the step in which a free radical bonds to a monomer in an addition reaction to create a modified monomer that now also has a free radical. This will lead into the next step, but that is beyond the scope of this project.
The initiation step of any polymerization reaction requires energy to start, and some polymers have more “energy expensive” initiation steps than others. The purpose of this project is to compare the initiation reactions of various polymers (polystyrene, PVC, nylon) and find the temperature at which their initiation is the most favored. The change in Gibbs free energy of each reaction will be studied and compared using SPARTAN computation to find the temperature at which it is the lowest. The results from this computation will be used to find the most “energy cheap” reaction.