Kazuhiko Matsuzaki

Morphospecific polymer from the copolymerization of trioxane and ethylene oxide

Recently, we have observed the following phenomena during the copolymerization of trioxane and ethylene oxide using a boron trifluoride initiator. In almost all of the polymerization cases, all polymers were soluble in a p-chlorophenol-tetrachloroethane mixed solvent at 90°C. However, in some polymerization cases, a small portion of the polymer was insoluble at this temperature, and this mixed solvent-insoluble fraction showed a higher melting point than that of the other fractions. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) photographs of the polymer showed that a highly fibrous structure was formed for the mixed solvent-insoluble fraction, and this highly packed structure is thought to be the origin of the high melting fraction. The nature of this high melting fraction was further examined using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectra.

End capping during polymerization of formaldehyde for manufacturing acetal homopolymer

Abstract The acetal homopolymer is conventionally obtained by the polymerization of formaldehyde, following end capping using acetic anhydride. Asahi Chemical developed a new process to obtain an end-capped polymer during polymerization of highly purified formaldehyde using acetic anhydride as the chain-transfer agent. The use of highly purified formaldehyde and end capping during polymerization using acetic anhydride as a chain-transfer agent or an end-capping agent will provide a simple process for manufacturing the acetal homopolymer. The polymerization mechanism was confirmed by infrared spectroscopy analysis and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis of the obtained polymer.