The Formation of Terminal Double Bonds in Vinyl Chloride Polymerization

The determination of double bonds in PVC is achieved with an increased accuracy in comparison with earlier methods by the addition of iodine monochloride (Wijs reaction) to PVC coupled with x-ray fluorescence analysis to determine the iodine content of the polymer. The number of double bonds per unit weight of polymer increases on increasing the polymerization temperature and is proportional to the number of polymer molecules. It is not affected, however, by the presence of the chain transfer agent tetrahydrofuran (THF). At the technically important polymerization temperatures of 30 to 80°C and in the absence of the chain transfer agent, 0.9 double bonds per polymer molecule are found. The number of double bonds per polymer molecule is lowered using the chain transfer agent THF. These results support the theory that the chain transfer to monomer and possibly the termination reaction are coupled with the formation of terminal double bonds. Contributions by internal double bonds formed by dehydrochlorination of the polymer during polymerization are excluded by investigating the Clθ content of the water phase in the oxygen-free VC suspension polymerization. No hydrogen chloride is formed. In IR spectra of PVC, the stretching vibration of the double bonds is detected at 1667 cm−1 by the correlation of the double bond contents and the intensities of the absorption bands. The stretching vibration at 1667 cm−1is in accordance with those of model compounds with a 1-chloro-2-alkene structure.