The main objective of this work is to investigate the effect of a set of crude oil emulsion variables, including pH and salt and water contents, upon the microwave demulsification process. A series of batch demulsification runs were carried out to evaluate the final emulsified water content of emulsion samples after the exposure to microwaves. Tests were performed at distinct heating temperatures, using water-in-heavy crude oil emulsion samples containing different salt and water contents and pH. Well-defined temperature programs were established to control the amount of energy applied to the emulsion and, ultimately, the viscosity. Higher microwave demulsification efficiencies were achieved for emulsions containing high water contents, except when high pH and salt contents were simultaneously involved.

The kinetics of propylene polymerization in toluene solution by bis(2-phenylindenyl)zirconium dichloride/methylaluminoxane at 20 °C were investigated. As the structure and properties of elastomeric polypropylenes produced by these catalysts depend sensitively on the reaction conditions, a detailed study of the kinetics was carried out to evaluate the influence of these parameters on the polymerization behavior. Studies of the solubilities and mass-transfer rates reveal that dissolved atactic polypropylene has little effect on propylene solubility but influences the mass-transfer rate of propylene into solution. The rates of propylene polymerization reach a maximum after 10−20 min and then decrease. The decrease in rate over time is faster at higher monomer concentrations. Catalyst activity was negligible at [Al]/[Zr] = 1000 but constant from [Al]/[Zr] = 2500 to [Al]/[Zr] = 10 000. Analysis of molecular weights as a function of monomer concentration reveal β-hydride elimination to be the primary chain-transfer mechanism. Narrow molecular weight distributions (M w/M n = 2.0−2.6) were obtained. The increase of the isotactic dyads and pentads ([m] and [mmmm]) with increasing monomer concentration reveals an additional kinetic event which competes with the stereodifferentiating olefin insertion step. Modeling studies are more consistent with a mechanism involving interconversion of the catalyst between isospecific and aspecific states than a mechanism involving epimerization of the stereogenic centers of the growing polymer chain.

A kinetic model was developed to describe the propylene polymerization behavior of fluxional, two-state metallocene catalysts. In particular, the pentad and molecular weight distributions can be described as well as other parameters of interest, such as the weight fraction of crystallizable sequences and the isotactic sequence length distribution, in terms of fundamental kinetic constants and polymerization conditions that pertain to these two-state catalyst systems. The model was used in an attempt to describe the polymerization behavior of two, prototypical, fluxional catalyst systems, (2-PhInd)2ZrCl2/MAO (1) and (2-p-CF3PhInd)2ZrCl2/MAO (2). The model can accurately reproduce the pentad distributions observed in PP prepared using these catalysts and the response of the distribution to changes in polymerization conditions, specifically changes in [C3H6] at constant T. These studies illustrate that the rate of state-to-state interconversion is slower but of comparable magnitude to the rate of monomer insertion and that the states have similar stability and reactivity. The broad molecular weight distributions previously observed with this family of catalysts can be described by the model. However, the model predicts that the state-to-state interconversion rate has to be significantly slower than the rate of formation of dead polymer chains, and this is inconsistent with the rate estimated from the response of the pentad distribution to changes in the rate of propagation (i.e., [C3H6]). Recent work where propylene polymerizations using 1 were carried out to low conversion indicate that the broad MWD seen in earlier studies is partly related to variations in [C3H6] during polymerization.

Poly(vinyl alcohol), PVA, is the most frequently used material in embolization of tumors, aneurisms and arteriovenous malformations due to its low toxicity, good biocompatibility and desirable physical properties. It is well known that PVA particles cannot be prepared by direct polymerization of vinyl alcohol. Its synthesis is typically performed by the suspension polymerization of vinyl acetate to produce poly(vinyl acetate), PVAc, followed by the saponification of the PVAc particles. This work shows that, using the suspension polymerization technique, it is possible to obtain spherical particles with a core‐shell structure of PVA/PVAc with regular morphology, instead of particles with irregular shapes and sizes, as usually found in many commercial embolization products. Therefore, this work presents the production of PVA/PVAc spherical particles that can be used to occlude blood vessels, eliminating the disadvantages of commercial PVA. In vivo clinical tests with white “New Zealand” rabbits undergoing kidney inflammation reaction have shown that these spherical particles are much more efficient for vascular embolization.

No abstract

The surface of natural Brazilian amazonic fibers (curauá, Ananas erectifolius) was modified with polyaniline nanoparticles, through in situ preparation of polyaniline nanoparticles in presence of the curauá fibers. This allowed for a significant increase in the electrical conductivity of the fibers (≈2 500 times). As the electrical resistivity of the modified fibers is a function of the applied external pressure, the produced composites can be used as a cheap pressure‐sensing material. The modified materials were also characterized by FT‐IR, XPS and SAXS, and the obtained results were used to explain some of the observed characteristics of the materials.magnified image

We report the synthesis of biodegradable hydrogel nanoparticles using a RAFT inverse miniemulsion cross-linking polymerization process with 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) as monomer. The experimental conditions were optimized to yield a colloidally stable miniemulsion polymerization, which required protonation of DMAEMA using aqueous hydrogen chloride to ensure minimal partitioning to the continuous phase (cyclohexane). The nanoparticles were cross-linked using a disulfide cross-linker, thereby enabling subsequent degradation of the polymer network to its constituent primary chains by exposure to a reductive environment. The molecular weight distributions of the constituent primary chains were consistent with satisfactory control/livingness during the polymerization. These biodegradable hydrogel nanoparticles may have potential application as nanocarriers for encapsulation and controlled release of siRNA.

Propylene polymerization using unsymmetrical, ansa-metallocene complexes Me(2)Y(Ind)CpMMe(2) (Y = Si, C, M = Zr, Y = C, M = Hf) and the co-initiators methyl aluminoxane (PMAO), B(C(6)F(5))(3), and [Ph(3)C][B(C(6)F(5))(4)] was studied at a variety of propylene concentrations. Modeling of the polymer microstructure reveals that the catalysts derived from Me(2)Si(Ind)CpZrMe(2) and each of these co-initiators function under conditions where chain inversion is much faster than propagation (Curtin-Hammett conditions). Surprisingly, the microstructure of the PP formed was essentially unaffected by the nature of the counterion, suggesting similar values for the fundamental parameters inherent to two-state catalysts. The tacticity of PP was sensitive to changes in [C(3)H(6)] in the case of catalysts derived from Me(2)C(Ind)CpHfMe(2) and PMAO, or [Ph(3)C][B(C(6)F(5))(4)], but the average tacticity of the polymer produced at a given [C(3)H(6)] decreased in the order [Ph(3)C][B(C(6)F(5))(4)] > PMAO. With B(C(6)F(5))(3), the polymer formed was more stereoregular, and its microstructure was invariant to changes in monomer concentration. The PP pentad distributions in this case could be modeled by assuming that all three catalyst/cocatalyst combinations function with different values for the relative rates of insertion to inversion (Delta) but otherwise feature essentially invariant, intrinsic stereoselectivity for monomer insertion (alpha, beta), while the relative reactivity/stability (g/K) of the isomeric ion-pairs present seems to be only modestly affected, if at all. Similar conclusions can also be made about the published propylene polymerization behavior of the C(s)-symmetric Me(2)C(Flu)CpZrMe(2) complex with different counterions. For every counterion investigated, the principle difference appears to be the operating regime (Delta) rather than intrinsic differences in insertion stereoselectivity (alpha). Surprisingly, the ordering of the various counterions with respect to Delta does not agree with commonly accepted ideas about their coordinating ability. In particular, catalysts when activated with B(C(6)F(5))(3) appear to function at low values of Delta as compared to those featuring B(C(6)F(5))(4) (less coordinating) and FAl[(o-C(6)F(5))C(6)F(4)](3) (more coordinating) or PMAO (more coordinating) counterions where the ordering in Delta is MeB(C(6)F(5))(3) < B(C(6)F(5))(4) < FAl[(o-C(6)F(5))C(6)F(4)](3) approximately PMAO. Possible reasons for this behavior are discussed.