Antisolvent crystallization and solid‐state polymerization of bisphenol‐A polycarbonate

Abstract

Bisphenol‐A polycarbonate (BAPC) was synthesized by solid‐state polymerization (SSP) using a semicrystalline prepolymer crystallized by antisolvent method. The antisolvent crystallization was investigated as a function of antisolvent types using X‐ray diffraction (XRD), different scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscopes (SEM). The results showed antisolvent types had a significant effect on the crystallization of BAPC. Prepolymer induced by acetone as an antisolvent gained a higher crystallinity of 37.0%, more uniform particle size, and mature crystal structure compared with the samples crystallized by methanol and ethanol. Then crystallization of BAPC by acetone was carried out at crystallization temperature in the range of 40–80 °C for 1–5 h. A high crystallinity of 42.0% was acquired with the crystallization conducted at 70 °C for 2 h. Prepolymer with appropriate crystallinity of 37.8% resulted in high‐molecular‐weight polymer of 57,411 via SSP due to the effect of crystallinity and plasticization of residual solvent. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43636.

Fluorine-driven amorphous solid-state polycondensation: phosgene-free synthesis of high-molecular weight polycarbonate from fluorinated carbonate

“…17 Xuesong Chang et al synthesized a high-molecular weight BPA polycarbonate through SSP using prepolymer crystallized by antisolvent method. 20 They investigated the antisolvent types to find a significant effect on the crystallization of BPA polycarbonate. Stephen M. Gross et al also took advantage of supercritical CO 2 to synthesize BPA polycarbonate by SSP, inducing crystallinity in low-molecular-weight polycarbonate beads.…”

Effective enhancement of poly(bisphenol-A carbonate) crystallinity with polyamide-66 ionized nucleation through ion-dipole interactions coupled with plasticization

“…The addition of plasticizers can enhance the movement of molecular chains and thus promote the crystal growth. For instance, common PC plasticizers include organic solvents such as acetone [20][21][22], carbon tetrachloride [23,24], tetrahydrofuran [24,25], ethyl acetate [26], chloroform [27], and supercritical CO 2 (SCCO 2 ) [28,29] can enhance the free volume and movement of PC molecular chains, and promote the ordering of molecular chanis into regular helica segments, which serve as crystal nuclie to initiate PC crystalization. Similarlly, flexible polymers such as polycaprolactone [30,31], polyethylene glycol [32], epoxy resins [33], esters such as diallyl phthalate [34], tributyl citrate [35,36], and small molecule liquid crystals such as cholesterol nonanoate (CN) [37,38] enhance the flexibility of PC to alevate the crystal growth.…”

Highly photosensitive furan acrylate derivatives and their solid-state photopolymerization

“…However, studies have demonstrated that some crystalline monomers can be polymerized in the solid state and a high conversion rate is achieved. [6][7][8] Compared with liquid-phase polymerization, solid-state photopolymerization still has the advantages of short induction time, small volume shrinkage, and high product purity due to the absence of solvent and even initiator. Solid-state polymerization can be conducted in a variety of ways, among which photo-initiated solid-state polymerization has been widely studied for its low temperature and eco-friendly properties.…”