Modified Polymers, Their Preparation and Properties

Book excerpt: Modified Polymers, Their Preparation and Properties brings together the main lectures presented at the Fourth Bratislava Conference on Polymers held in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, on July 1-4, 1975. Contributors explore the properties of modified polymers and their preparation, covering topics ranging from radiation crosslinking of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate to chemical modification of polymers and the influence of chemical structure on the properties of polymers. This book is comprised of eight chapters and begins with a discussion on crosslinking of PVC in the presence of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, studied by microcalorimetry, electron spin resonance, and structure investigation. The next chapter examines some characteristic features of chemical transformations of polymers on three examples: reactions of various organo-lithium bases onto the ester carbonyls of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA); reaction of phenyl-lithium onto the carbonyl groups of PMMA; and chemical modification of polyvinylalcohol by metallation and subsequent reactions of alkylhalides or of propane sulfone. Subsequent chapters focus on how chemical structure affects polymer properties; alternating copolymer graft copolymers; acrylonitrile block and graft copolymers; and problems of polymer modification and the reactivity of functional groups of macromolecules. The final chapter is devoted to the separation and characterization of block and graft copolymers by thin-layer chromatography. This monograph will be a valuable source of information for chemists.