Sunday, July 10, 2022

Water works as a monomer in polymer synthesis

Amazing stuff! We still know so little about water! However, e.g. on a daily basis we are deluged with the Global Warming and Climate Change propaganda and demagoguery!

It seems this is at present this is a "niche chemical reaction". But who knows ...

"Researchers ... have devised a strategy for synthesizing polyethersulfone polymers using water as a monomer. The polymers can be used as polyelectrolytes in lithium-ion batteries in a step towards more sustainable devices. ... it is one of only a few examples in the literature where water is used as a monomer. ...
The overarching goal is to find ways for replacing expensive and harmful thiols or amines with cheaper and greener di- and polyols."

The following abstract is not easy to digest, it is full of so many technical terms etc. that probably only specialists in the field can understand it. That is regrettable!

From the abstract:
"Using water as a monomer in polymerization reactions presents a unique and exquisite strategy towards more sustainable chemistry. Herein, the feasibility thereof is demonstrated by the introduction of the oxa-Michael polyaddition of water and divinyl sulfone. Upon nucleophilic or base catalysis, the corresponding aliphatic polyethersulfone is obtained in an interfacial polymerization at room temperature in high yield (>97%) within an hour. The polyethersulfone is characterized by relatively high molar mass averages and a dispersity around 2.5. The polymer was tested as a solid polymer electrolyte with lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) as the salt. Free-standing amorphous membranes were prepared by a melt process in a solvent-free manner. The polymer electrolyte containing 15 wt% LiTFSI featured an oxidative stability of up to 5.5 V vs. Li/Li+ at 45 °C and a conductivity of 1.45 × 10−8 S cm−1 at room temperature."

Water works as a monomer in polymer synthesis | Research | Chemistry World Water monomers form direct linkages in polymer backbones when used to synthesize polyethersulfones

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