ABSTRACT
The "comonomer effect" is an intriguing kinetic phenomenon in olefin copolymerization that still remains without a detailed explanation. It typically relates to the rate of enhancement undergone in ethylene and propene catalytic polymerization just by adding small fractions of an alpha-olefin. The difficulty lies in the fact that changes caused by the presence of the comonomer in reaction parameters are so conspicuous that it is really difficult to pin down which of them is the primary cause and which ones are side factors with marginal contribution to the phenomenon. Recent investigations point to the modification of the catalyst active sites as the main driving factor. In this work, the comonomer effect in the metallocene copolymerization of propene and 1-nonene is analysed and correlated to the comonomer role in the termination of the chain-growing process. The associated termination mechanisms involved furnish most of chain-free active sites, in which the selective interaction of the comonomer was proposed to trigger the insertion of monomers. A thorough characterisation of chain-end groups by means of the 1H NMR technique allows for detailing of specific transfer processes, ascribed to comonomer insertions, as well as evidencing the influence of the growing chain's microstructure over the different termination processes available.
ABSTRACT
The incorporation of TiO2 nanoparticles into (ethylene-vinyl alcohol)-based food packaging copolymers affords an opportunity to synthesize polymer-based nanocomposite materials with novel and powerful biocidal and photodegradability properties, resulting in the production of an advanced, environmentally friendly system prepared using a cost-effective synthesis method via a simple melt compounding without the need of a coupling agent incorporation. The presented materials display an unprecedented performance in the killing of both Gram positive and negative bacteria without the necessity of being release to the media and an easy degradation under sunlight which favorably competes with biodegradation procedures.
