It was shown that diethyl vinylphosphonate and diisopropyl vinylphosphonate are polymerized by peroxide initiators to clear, light‐yellow, viscous liquid polymers of low molecular weight. It was found that the yield of the isolated polymers varied directly, while the molecular weight varied inversely, with the concentration of the initiator. Infrared spectra of the monomers used and the polymers obtained established that polymerization occurs through the vinyl group. It is postulated that the low molecular weight is due to the result of chain transfer with polymer and/or monomer through the alkoxy groups attached to the phosphorus atom.

Microscale chemistry is a laboratory-based, environmentally safe, pollution-prevention approach accomplished by using miniature glassware and significantly reduced amounts of chemicals. Microscale chemistry can be implemented without compromising educational standards or analytical rigor, and its techniques are amenable to industrial R&D applications. Since its modest beginning at three institutions in the early 1980s (Bowdoin College, Merrimack College, and Brown University), microscale chemistry has experienced a rapid growth in the U.S. and around the world. The extent of proliferation of this technique can be judged from numerous publications in this Journal.Originally, microscale chemistry was introduced in the organic chemistry laboratory at Bowdoin College, Maine. It was later expanded to cover general, inorganic, analytical, and environmental chemistry. The National Microscale Chemistry Center was established at Merrimack College in 1992-1993 as the first center to offer formal microscale chemistry training to teachers and chemists at all levels from elementary school to university.Green chemistry (1-3) is a relatively new initiative undertaken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, in collaboration with the ACS and the Green Chemistry Institute, MD. The simplest definition of green chemistry is "the use of chemistry techniques and methodologies that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of feedstocks, products, by-products, solvents, reagents, etc., that are hazardous to human health or the environment" (2). While more commonly being used in industrial applications, the concepts of green chemistry can also be incorporated into educational pedagogy, which argues for the adoption of microscale laboratory methods in teaching institutions. To recognize the impact of green chemistry on the environment, several awards, such as the Kenneth G. Hancock Green Chemistry Memorial Scholarship and the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards have been instituted (see EPA's award announcement: www.epa.gov/docs/gcc).Microscale chemistry is a laboratory-based green chemistry approach. In green chemistry, the laboratory product, rather than being the industrial 10,000 lb/h of ethyl benzene, is the understanding of the chemistry behind a particular reaction. The application of green chemistry-microscale chemistry to this laboratory product would then be a modification of the reagents, solvents, experimental methodology, and/or products to allow the gaining of this knowledge with the minimum hazard to human health or the environment. A chemist trained in this way will have a significant impact on the solution of problems related to the environment. In this paper we report on the compatibility of microscale chem-istry and green chemistry pedagogic programs: their benefits and impact on academia and industry.We will examine each of the fundamental aspects of green chemistry pedagogy (3b), with examples from microscale experiments performed at our center.

A series of simple vinyl siloxanes containing monofunctional, difunctional, and trifunctional silicon atoms has been copolymerized with various organic vinyl monomers. It is now possible to predict the behavior of vinyl siloxanes of complex structure in copolymerization reactions with these vinyl monomers. The structure of the vinyl siloxane does not appreciably affect the total rate of copolymerization or its reactivity toward a given organic vinyl monomer. Vinyl siloxane monomers have comparable reactivities to monomers such as vinyl acetate, vinyl chloride, and perfluorovinyl chloride but are less reactive than acrylonitrile, styrene, and N‐vinylpyrrolidone. In copolymerization reactions involving vinyl siloxanes the total polymerization rate and the molecular weight of the copolymers are markedly affected by the amount of vinyl siloxanes in the monomer mixture. An increase in the percentage of vinyl siloxane in the monomer mixture results in a decreased polymerization rate and copolymers having lower molecular weights.

No abstract