Methods and instrumentation for during-synthesis monitoring of polymer functional evolution
09568462 ยท 2017-02-14
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
C08F2/001
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
G01N2021/4769
PHYSICS
B01J19/0033
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B01J2219/00186
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B01J19/0006
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
Y02P20/582
GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
International classification
G01N33/00
PHYSICS
B01J19/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
G01N21/25
PHYSICS
Abstract
A method of monitoring the evolution of polymer and/or colloid stimuli responsiveness during synthesis of polymers and/or colloids, including postpolymerization modifications on natural and synthetic polymers, includes providing a reactor in which the polymers and/or colloids are synthesized; and providing a means of monitoring the stimuli responsiveness of the polymers and/or colloids during said synthesis. Preferably, the method also includes monitoring the evolution of the characteristics of the polymers and/or colloids during said synthesis. Preferably, evolution of polymer and/or colloid stimuli responsiveness is correlated to the evolution of the properties of the polymers and/or colloids themselves. Also, preferably the conditions of the fluid in the reactor in which the synthesis occurs is determined. The determination can be by detection, choice of materials and temperature conditions, for example, and combinations thereof. The method and instrumentation disclosed can lead to optimization and control of processes and synthetic and modification strategies leading to polymers and colloids with desired stimuli responsiveness.
Claims
1. A device for monitoring the synthesis of a polymer comprising (a) a reactor for synthesizing the polymer; (b) at least two detectors that each detect a property of the polymer, each detector being the same type of detector, and each detector detecting the same property of the polymer at a different condition; and (c) a component comprising an extraction stage that extracts a sample from the reactor for delivery to each of the at least two detectors, said sample comprising the polymer.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the component further comprises a dilution stage that dilutes the sample after extraction.
3. The device of claim 1, wherein the component further comprises a conditioning stage that conditions the sample after extraction.
4. The device of claim 3, wherein the conditioning stage conditions the sample after extraction and dilution.
5. The device of claim 1, further comprising a size-exclusion chromatographic separator.
6. The device of claim 5, wherein the chromatographic separator is positioned after at least one of the at least two detectors.
7. The device of claim 6, wherein the chromatographic separator is positioned after each of the at least two detectors.
8. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least two detectors are serial to one another.
9. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least two detectors are parallel to one another.
10. The device of claim 1, comprising at least three detectors.
11. The device of claim 10, wherein each detector is the same type of detector, and each detector detecting the same property of the polymer at a different condition.
12. The device of claim 10, wherein at least one detector detects a different property of the polymer.
13. The device of claim 10, wherein two of the detectors are serial to one another or two of the detectors are parallel to one another.
14. The device of claim 1, wherein the property of the polymer that each of the at least two detectors detect is selected from the group consisting of light scattering, ultraviolet/visible absorption, refractometry, viscometry, conductivity, pH, polarimetry, turbidity, fluorescence, circular dichroism, and birefringement.
15. The device of claim 1, wherein each condition is selected from the group consisting of temperature, ionic strength, pH, solution composition, and radiation.
16. The device of claim 15, wherein the solution composition comprises one or more of a salt, a dye, a small molecule, a pigment, a nanoparticle, a surfactant, and a second polymer.
17. A method of monitoring polymerization of a polymer comprising (a) synthesizing a polymer in a reactor under a first set of reaction parameters; (b) extracting a sample of the polymer from the reactor during the synthesis; (c) flowing the sample through at least two detectors; (d) detecting a property of the polymer at each of the at least two detectors to produce at least two signals, each detector being the same type of detector, and each detector detecting the same polymer property at a different condition; and (e) analyzing the signals to determine the polymer property at each condition.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the sample is flowed through the at least two detectors serially.
19. The method of claim 17, further comprising separating the sample into a first portion and a second portion before the flowing step, wherein the first portion flows through a first detector of the at least two detectors and the second portion flows through a second detector of the at least two detectors, the first detector and the second detector in parallel.
20. The method of claim 17, further comprising modifying the first set of reaction parameters to a second set of reaction parameters, based on the analysis of the signal from each detector, and synthesizing the polymer in the reactor under the second set of reaction parameters.
21. The method of claim 17, further comprising diluting the sample, conditioning the sample, or both diluting and conditioning the sample prior to flowing the sample through the at least two detectors.
22. The method of claim 17, further comprising subjecting the sample to a chromatographic separator after the detecting step.
23. The method of claim 17, further comprising flowing the sample through at least three detectors.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein each detector is the same type of detector, and each detector detects the same property of the polymer at a different condition.
25. The method of claim 23, wherein at least one detector detects a different property of the polymer.
26. The method of claim 17, wherein the property of the polymer that each of the at least two detectors detect is selected from the group consisting of light scattering, ultraviolet/visible absorption, refractometry, viscometry, conductivity, pH, polarimetry, turbidity, fluorescence, circular dichroism, and birefringement.
27. The method of claim 17, wherein each condition is selected from the group consisting of temperature, ionic strength, pH, solution composition, and radiation.
28. The method of claim 27, wherein the solution composition comprises one or more of a salt, a dye, a small molecule, a pigment, a nanoparticle, a surfactant, and a second polymer.
29. A method of controlling a property of a polymer, the method comprising (a) synthesizing a polymer in a reactor under a first set of reaction parameters; (b) extracting a sample of the polymer from the reactor during the synthesis; (c) flowing the sample through at least two detectors; (d) detecting a property of the polymer at each of the at least two detectors to produce at least two signals, each detector being the same type of detector, and each detector detecting the same polymer property at a different condition; (e) analyzing the at least two signals to determine the polymer property at each condition; (f) modifying the first set of reaction parameters to a second set of reaction parameters, based on the analysis of the signal from each detector; and (g) synthesizing the polymer in the reactor under the second set of reaction parameters.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) For a further understanding of the nature, objects, and advantages of the present invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, read in conjunction with the following drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote like elements and wherein:
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
(19) Herein, evolution of stimuli responsiveness refers to how the ability of polymers and/or colloids to go through phase and conformational transitions, associations with other molecules, synthetic and biomacromolecules, supramolecular and self-organizing assemblage, reactivities with other species, etc., as defined above, changes as the properties of the polymers and/or colloids themselves change during synthesis; i.e. how changing properties such as molecular mass, composition, comonomer sequentiality (e.g. block, gradient, random), grafting, cross-linking, microgelation, bioconjugation, association with nanoparticles, whether covalent or non-covalent, and post-polymer chemical and physical modifications (such modifications can include, but are not limited to quaternization, PEGylation, sulfonation, carboxylation, amination, clicking on of any one or combination of functional groups or oligomers or polymers) etc. affect these types of stimuli responsiveness, and how the polymer mediumits temperature, pH, ionic strength, solvent type, including use of ionic liquids and including mixtures of solvents, content of surfactants, small molecules, including drugs and other bioactive agents, irradiation by light or other electromagnetic radiation, ultrasound, etc.affect stimuli responsiveness.
(20) The types of reactions that can produce polymers and colloids with stimuli responsiveness include, but are not limited to free radical polymerization, polycondensation and other step-growth reactions, living type polymerizations, including Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization (ROMP), Nitroxide Mediated Polymerization (NMP), Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP), Reversible Addition Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT), anionic and cationic polymerization, post-polymerization reactions that add, subtract, or modify specific chemical groups or moitities, etc. The invention can be applied to many different scenarios for polymerization; in solvent, in bulk, in heterogeneous phase, such as emulsion, suspension, miniemulsion, micelle, and inverse emulsion.
(21) Moreover, the invention can be used for different approaches to carrying out the polymerization process; batch reactions in which all reagents are added to the reactor at once, or in discrete amounts as the reaction proceeds, semi-batch reactions, in which the reagents are added to the reactor continuously over intervals or throughout the reaction with constant or changing flow rates for one or more reagents, and continuous reactors, in which reactants are continuously fed together, react together, and are retrieved continuously from the reactor. The latter include, but are not limited to tubular reactors, plug flow reactors, and continuously stirred tank reactors.
(22) In the case of semi-batch and continuous reactors it will be possible to make predictive control of the reactions, that is, by understanding the kinetics of the reaction, such as composition and molecular weight drift, and by understanding how these characteristics produce the desired stimuli responsiveness of the polymers produced, it will be possible to produce the desired polymers on-command, by being able to predictively set the reaction conditions to achieve this; e.g. by setting the temperature and concentration of reagents, and by semi-batch flow addition of reagents to control the reaction pathway. Recently the inventor has demonstrated how this predictive approach can be used to control kinetics, molecular weight and composition drift during free radical homopolymerization and copolymerization.
(23) Ultimately, it will also be possible to use full feedback control of reaction conditions, such as reagent flows into the reactors to produce polymers with desired stimuli responsiveness. In this scenario the sensing of the polymer characteristics (conversion, molecular weight, etc.) and/or the sensing of the stimuli responsiveness can be used to automatically adjust reaction conditions (e.g. temperature) and reagent flow conditions to control the reaction towards the desired product.
(24) Best current approaches to assaying stimuli responsiveness involve high throughput screening of end-products, such as multiple well, channel plates, or even continuous gradient devices (e.g. Bergbreiter et al., Macromolecules, 37, 2004, 1031-1036) on which detection of transitions can be made with any appropriate spectroscopic or other method. These, however, test only the endproduct, and so have no means of determining when during synthesis the particular phase transition properties of the polymer appeared or began to appear. It would take many more polymerization reactions to explore even a finite number of compositions and molecular weights, etc., whereas the proposed during-synthesis method allows one to continuously, and in a single experiment, make precise determinations of the polymer characteristics required for sharp or gradual threshold behavior.
(25) The idea of during-synthesis monitoring presented here is that the evolution of stimuli responsiveness can be monitored versus continuously changing molecular weight, composition, and other molecular features (e.g. polyelectrolyte linear charge density, polymer branching, cross-linking, clicking to other molecules and polymers, etc.) as the polymers evolve during their synthesis. This sets the method totally apart from all traditional methods and even the most modern high-throughput methods that analyze only end-products of multiple reactions carried out in parallel, which hence only measure discrete variations in polymer parameters. In other words, the present invention allows stimuli responsiveness to be assessed on the equivalent of a complete continuum of endproducts, rather than a mere sampling of individually synthesized endproducts. The invention, even in its simplest form, is a high throughput screening platform.
(26) In fact, if carried out vigorously and successfully, this approach could directly challenge and perhaps even disrupt the currently growing area of multiple, simultaneous, robotically controlled reactions, whose endproducts are analyzed (Wiesbrock, F.; Schubert, U. S. New challenges in combinatorial polymer research: 3rd DPI workshop on automated synthesis and high-throughput experimentation in polymer and materials research at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Macromolecular Rapid Communications (2004), 25(17), 1579-1582); e.g. Symyx Corporation, Chemspeed AG. For example, those very expensive technologies (which easily run into the million dollar range and more per system), are often used to produce merely a series of polymer end products of the same composition but different molecular weight in order to assess the dependence of stimuli responsiveness on this latter property. They may also be used to produce a variety of endproducts of different compositions, masses, and other properties, but they are still limited to endproduct analysis.
(27) The present invention is quite elegant as it both provides the equivalent of a continuum of endproducts while vastly reducing the number of reactions to be run. This idea is particularly well-suited to many living types of polymer reactions; e.g. controlled radical polymerization reactions such as nitroxide mediated polymerization (NMP); reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT); atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP); and other living type reactions, such as ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), where growing chains usually share similar mass and composition averages. The invention will also be applicable to post-polymerization modifications (hydrolysis, PEGylation, click coupling, etc.), step growth, free radical chain growth, grafting, branching, bioconjugation, etc. It is suited to many types of reaction scenarios, including batch reactors, semi-batch reactors, that is, controlled feed of one or more reagents affecting polymerization into the reactor during the reaction, and continuous reactors.
(28) A major advantage of the proposed method is that it can provide a fast track towards optimization of polymer properties required to carry out desired functions, such as sensing, encapsulation, coating, etc. by precisely quantifying how stimuli responsiveness evolves. Once it is known when during synthesis a polymer achieves desired stimuli responsiveness, and under what types of reaction conditions, polymers of precisely those characteristics at that point of synthesis can then be targeted as end products in subsequent experiments, scale-up operations, or manufacturing.
(29) While many methods exist for observing polymeric phase transitions and/or stimuli responsiveness, e.g. turbidity, fluorescence, conductivity, surface tension, light scattering, circular dichroism and birefringence, including high throughput measurements on reaction endproducts, etc., the present inventor believes that few, if any, during-synthesis methods exist, which simultaneously measure polymer properties, such as mass and composition, and phase transitions.
(30) One of the several advantages of this approach is that it will allow precise knowledge of at what point in synthesis, polymers and copolymers obtain, whether sharply or gradually, their stimuli responsiveness. For example, an evolving polymer (which henceforth means any type of polymer, whether copolymeric, terpolymeric, etc., gradient, block, grafted, branched, star, dendrimeric, produced through chemical, enzymatic or other modifications, etc.) may have an LCST, for a given solvent type (whether mixed or pure solvent) and polymer composition and molecular weight, or molecular weight distribution. With an appropriate detector in an ACOMP system, the phase transition at the LCST can be automatically detected, and it is then known what the threshold mass and composition characteristics of the polymer are for the phase transition to occur.
(31) High Throughput Squared; Coupling ACOMP to SMSLS and its Successors.
(32) In fact, one can couple extra detectors to the system to make multiple determinations and hence convert the approach to a sort of high throughput squared platform. An example of this would be the use of SMSLS (Simultaneous Multiple Static Light Scattering, patented by W. F. Reed) (W. F. Reed U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,144, Device and method of simultaneously measuring the light scattering from multiple liquid samples containing polymers and/or colloids; M. F. Drenski, W. F. Reed, Simultaneous Multiple Sample Light Scattering for Characterization of Polymer Solutions, J. App. Polym. Sci., vol. 92, 2724-2732, 2004), flow sample cells held at different temperatures in the detector train. In this particular example, one could determine the LCST for as many molecular masses and compositions of polymer as there are SMSLS flow cells at different temperatures. These latter are relatively easy and inexpensive to fabricate, and current data collection systems can handle large numbers. SMSLS flow cells can be modified to measure absorbance and turbidity (as opposed to scattering or fluorescence) if the detection fiber is mounted at an angle of 0 for detection.
(33) With the advent of flow-cell equipped dynamic light scattering (DLS)e.g. the NanoDLS by Brookhaven Instruments Corporation (Holtsville, N.Y.), single mode detection fibers, and inexpensive autocorrelators, it is possible to create a train of SMSLS type cells for DLS to make measurements of hydrodynamic diameter.
(34) It is noted that where detected properties may be sensitive to flow, e.g. optical measurements of anisotropic particles in shear flow, each detection cell can be equipped with a stop-flow means, whereby a solenoid valve or other automatically switchable element can periodically divert the continuous flow stream into the cell, where it remains stationary during measurement, the continuous flow bypassing it during this interval, and the cell contents being subsequently swept out as the flow again diverts through it until the flow is again diverted from the cell and a new measurement cycle is made on the stopped flow cell contents.
(35) Extending the SMSLS Platform to Fluorescence Detection (a New Instrumentation Family).
(36) The SMSLS cells can be adapted to become multiple fluorescence detecting flow cells; e.g. for a right angle SMSLS cell, one could add an optical notch filter at the photodetector (e.g. CCD) to exclude scattered light and detect only fluorescence. Newport Corporation (Irvine, Calif.), for example, offers a wide variety of narrow bandpass optical filters (e.g. 10BPF10-330). One could also use two right angle fibers (e.g. one on each side of the cell, or both on the same side) each with its own notch or cut-off optical filter for detecting ratios of fluorescence intensities at different wavelengths, as is frequently done with fluorescent probes, for example with pyrene (Narrainen, Amilcar Pillay; Pascual, Sagrario; Haddleton, David M. Amphiphilic diblock, triblock, and star block copolymers by living radical polymerization: synthesis and aggregation behavior. Journal of Polymer Science, Part A: Polymer Chemistry (2002), 40(4), 439-450.). While incident light is usually provided by lasers in SMSLS flow cell banks, broad band ultraviolet and visible light sources (e.g. xenon and deuterium lamps) could be used where broader ranges of UV/visible excitation than afforded by monochromatic lasers are needed. In such cases filters or monochromators for excitation wavelength selection can be used.
(37) Addition of Polarization Sensitive Detection to the Entire SMSLS Family of Instruments.
(38) As concerns further optical variations of the SMSLS detection platform, additional power for functional evolution can be gained by using polarizing properties. Polarization preserving fibers and inline fiber optical polarizers are readily available to allow sensing of the various states of linear or elliptical polarization of scattered or emitted light. For example Newport Corporation has a whole series of inline fiber optical polarizers available; e.g. F-ILP-1-N-SP-FP. Areas in which polarization sensitive monitoring can be useful include, but are not limited to, formation of anisotropic structurese.g. self-assembly of rod-like micellesthat lead to depolarized scattering, and inhibited rotations of symmetric or asymmetric probe-containing structures leading to fluorescence emission anisotropy, (Tusa, S. T; Sakakibara, a.; Yamammoto, T.; Morishima, Y. Fluorescence Studies of pH-responsive unimolecular micelles formed from amphiphilic polysulfonates possessing long chain alkyl carboxyl pendants, Macromolecules (2002), 35, 10182-10288) etc.
(39) Other Aspects of the High Throughput Capabilities.
(40) Similarly, in this single example, one can conceive of many other ways of making simultaneous determinations during synthesis. For example, one reactor stream may feed a typical ACOMP detection train for determining all the relevant polymer parameters as they evolve (composition, mass, conversion, linear charge density, etc.), whereas a separate stream(s) could be drawn and then independently diluted with a series of different diluents, e.g. with a multiple-channel peristaltic pump, the stream for each of which would flow through one or more SMSLS cells. Such multiple-channel pumps are widely available; e.g. the Rainin 7103-058 RP-1 8-channel peristaltic pump. Again, since SMSLS cells are inexpensive and large numbers can be brought under the control of a single computer, each mixed solvent stream could also have a series of SMSLS cells at different temperatures so that now, polymer characteristics for LCST thresholds could additionally be determined as a function of solvent mixture. When the threshold phenomenon is dependent on the concentration of polymer in solution, this same dual or multiple extraction stream could be also used to vary polymer concentration in multiple sub-streams for determination of such concentration dependent effects on LCST and other types of stimuli responsiveness.
(41) There are no limits to the types of multiple diluents that could be assayed simultaneously. They could be different solvents, mixtures of solvents, solutions of different pH, ionic strength, concentrations of metal ions, uni- or multivalent ions, solutions containing aromatic molecules, drugs or their analogs, other synthetic or natural polymers, micelles, vesicles, emulsions, or liposomes that may interact with the evolving polymer, etc.
(42) Besides light scattering, absorbance, and fluorescence detection, it is possible to use optical rotary dispersion and circular dichroism (e.g. useful for detecting helix to coil transitions, denaturation, etc.), conductance, etc., in short, any of the usual means of observing polymer transitions, associations, etc.
(43) There are many examples that can be given besides LCST. For example, copolymers can micellize or form other types of uni- or multi-chain aggregates, depending also on their composition, molecular mass, etc. Use of a fluorescent dye in the ACOMP dilution stream, for example, could give precise information on when micellization occurs, giving a fast track to polymer optimization.
(44) Another example is encapsulation. The desired agent, or an analog of the desired agent, could be put either in the ACOMP dilution stream, and/or in the reactor, and its encapsulation monitored by fluorescence or other method. In this way, one would know under precisely what polymer properties encapsulation occurs. In the same experiment one could also use the multiple stream approach and hence test for the effects of solvent polarity (e.g. through mixtures), pH, ionic strength, different types of agents to be encapsulated (e.g. a series of agents), etc. Yet another example is the use of agents, such as multivalent or metal ions, to produce supramolecular (non-covalent) associations between polymers.
(45) Other Aspects of the Relationship to ACOMP and SMSLS.
(46) An interesting feature of this approach is that it builds off of instrumentation and methods platforms already patented by Reed and held by Tulane. To utilize the present invention as outlined here, at least, would preferably involve use of the patented ACOMP platform. To use the multiple temperature on a single stream, or in the multiple stream approach would preferably involve use of patented SMSLS instrumentation.
(47) The SMSLS instrumentation, as noted above, can be modified to become Simultaneous Multiple Sample Fluorescence Detection, Simultaneous Multiple Sample Absorption Detection, etc. These cells can also be fitted with light sources to form other functions besides detection; e.g. photodecomposition, photoactivation, photoassociation, photoacidification, etc. That is, instead of irradiating the cells with electromagnetic radiation used solely as a probe, such as for scattering or fluorescence, the incident radiation could actually excite functional properties of the polymers, such as photoacidification where a proton is photostimulated to leave its parent molecule. In general the invention can monitor radiation sensitivity of the polymers, whether the radiation be electromagnetic, such as visible light, ultraviolet, x-rays, etc., or charged particles, such as electrons. Each sample cell could be constructed to each have a different intensity or type of radiation (e.g. different wavelengths or colors of light) incident on it, for example, through windows that are in contact with the flow channels.
(48) In fact, the present invention can be viewed as a next generation ACOMP system in that it benefits from the information (molecular mass, conversion, composition, etc.) provided by the first generation ACOMP and uses this information to correlate detection of phase transitions and associations therewith. It is also next generation in the sense that it moves into the important realm of mapping out the functional behavior of the explosively growing number of intelligent polymers that will be at the heart of major materials science innovations in the 21st century.
(49) Extension to Natural Products.
(50) The principles outlined above can be readily adapted to the vast area of natural product modification and use. Natural products are frequently modified by chemical, enzymatic, or photomodifications in order to achieve properties such as solubility, biocompatibility, micellization, nano-structuration, etc. This same type of approach could be used as a high throughput platform for monitoring how these properties of natural products evolve as they are extracted, modified, and processed.
(51) Extension to Control of Polymerization Reactions
(52) ACOMP has matured to the point where reactions can be controlled predictively (i.e. using precise reaction kinetics and characteristics furnished by ACOMP to predict optimal reaction processes) and, eventually, by feedback. In those scenarios, the monitoring is used to guide the production of desired molecular weight and composition distributions, degrees of grafting, etc.
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(56) The solvent reservoir 4 can be a vessel (four-liter capacity, for example) containing dilution solvent or solvent mixture of choice, with tubes in the vessel for extraction by the various pumps for diluting and mixing the sample flow, and feeding the detector train. The ACOMP detector train 5 preferably comprises one or more of the following instruments: multi-angle static light scattering detector, e.g. Brookhaven Instruments Corp. BI-MwA; dynamic light scattering detector, e.g. Brookhaven Instruments Corp. nano-DLS; Mie light scattering detector, e.g. Malvern Mastersizer; single or multiple capillary viscometer, e.g. using Validyne pressure transducers; ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometer, e.g. Shimadzu Diode Array SPD-M20A; differential refractometer, e.g. Shimadzu RID-10A; near infra red or mid-infra red detector, e.g. Shimadzu.
The microcomputer control 6, for data gathering and analysis, can comprise: an integrated instrument control device and signal processor for detector train signals, e.g. the National Instruments NI Compact Field Point Model CFP-2020 Part #: 188539G-03; a software program(s) allowing control of the instruments and graphical display of the incoming and analyzed data, e.g. Labview software modules; software for numerical data analysis of signals; e.g. written in C++ or other programming language (Power Basic, Visual Basic, Fortran), and embedded into control program, or running simultaneously with it; a computer for running the control, data gathering and analysis software, e.g. any standard desktop or laptop computer, such as from Gateway, Hewlett Packard, Apple or Dell.
(57) The optional auto-SEC (Size Exclusion Chromatography) 7 is connected to the waste stream from the ACOMP detector train 5, or directly to the outlet stream of the ACOMP front end 3 if no continuous detector train 5 is used. The auto-SEC 7 can be equipped with: an auto-injector valve connected to the stream as mentioned, and set to automatically make injections of small volumes (e.g. 100 microliters) into the SEC columns at desired intervals (e.g. every 10 minutes); a high pressure liquid chromatography pump; e.g. Shimadzu LC10-AD; a solvent reservoir, which can be the same as solvent reservoir 4 if desired and appropriate; one or more SEC columns; a software program for gathering and analyzing the data from the periodically injected samples; any combination of the following detectors: multi-angle static light scattering detector, e.g. Brookhaven Instruments Corp. BI-MwA; dynamic light scattering detector, e.g. Brookhaven Instruments Corp. nano-DLS; Mie light scattering detector, e.g. Malvern Mastersizer; single or multiple capillary viscometer, e.g. using Validyne pressure transducers; ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometer, e.g. Shimadzu Diode Array; differential refractometer, e.g. Shimadzu; near infra red or mid-infra red detector, e.g. Shimadzu.
(58) Waste vessel 8 is preferably provided to accumulate the waste streams of solvent and sample produced by the system and can be e.g. a safety sealed metal drum. Desired dilution/conditioning 9 can have the same function as ACOMP front-end 3. In some applications it can be ACOMP front-end 3 itself, in other applications it can contain those elements of ACOMP front-end 3 necessary to provide the dilution/conditioning needed to monitor stimuli responsiveness of the polymers. Multiple detection modules 10 are preferably independently controlled, and monitored, e.g. for temperature, illumination, and can include multiple individual capillary viscometers, static light scattering cells (e.g. SMSLSsee (U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,144)), dynamic light scattering, fluorescence, and turbidity cells. Optional multiple detection modules 11 in parallel with modules 10, including a valve or T for splitting the flow between modules 10 and modules 11. These can be used to incorporate more banks of individually controlled and monitored detectors.
(59) Living Diblock
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(62) A solvent reservoir 104 can be a vessel (e.g., a four liter glass container) containing dilution solvent, with tubes in the vessel for extraction by the various pumps for diluting and mixing the sample flow, and feeding the detector train. An ACOMP detector train 105 preferably the following instruments. a multi-angle static light scattering detector; e.g. Brookhaven Instruments Corp. BI-MwA. The expansion board on this preferably accepts signals from all the other detectors; a dynamic light scattering detector, e.g. Brookhaven Instruments Corp. nano-DLS; a Mie light scattering detector, e.g. Malvern Mastersizer; a single capillary viscometer, using a Validyne pressure transducer, according to the design of Norwood and Reed (see Int. J. Polym. Ana. and Char., 4, 99-132, 1997); a two wavelength ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometer, e.g. Shimadzu Diode Array; a differential refractometer, e.g. Shimadzu.
A microcomputer control 106 for data gathering and analysis preferably comprises: a Brookhaven Instruments Corp. software program that gathers, via an A/D expansion board on the BI-MwA detector, and graphically displays, the incoming and analyzed data. software for numerical data analysis of signals written for example in Power Basic; a Dell microcomputer with an Intel Core 2 duo processor and USB connection.
Auto-SEC (Size Exclusion Chromatography) 107 is connected to the waste stream from the ACOMP detector train 105. The auto-SEC 107 is preferably equipped with: a Rheodyne MXP 7900 auto-injector valve with a 100 l sample loop attached; an Amperite solid state DFA series adjustable recycling timer is used to control the valve for periodic injections; a Shodex 804 SEC column; a Shimadzu high pressure liquid chromatography pump; a solvent reservoir, which can be the same as reservoir 104; a BI-MwA based program for gathering and analyzing the data from the periodically injected samples; the following detectors: a multi-angle static light scattering detector; e.g. Brookhaven Instruments Corp. BI-MwA, a dynamic light scattering detector by Brookhaven Instruments Corp. nano-DLS, i.e. light scattering detector by Malvern Mastersizer, a single capillary viscometer; a Shimadzu dual wavelength ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometer; a Shimadzu differential refractometer.
(63) A (for example four-liter glass) waste vessel 108 to accumulate the waste streams of solvent and sample produced by the system. There are preferably ten custom fabricated individual static light scattering cells 110 in series, similar to the Simultaneous Multiple Sample Light Scattering patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,144) of Reed. Each cell preferably has 90 degree fiber optic detection of scattered light and its own Pelletier temperature control element. A diode laser (Laser Max) at 635 nm is preferably used, in conjunction with beam splitters, to illuminate the cells. Scattered light detected by each fiber optic is preferably fed to an individual photodiode. These cells are fed by the diluted output from the mixing Ts 13, which Ts 13 are each fed by one capillary from multi-head pump 12 and multi-head pump 15. The multi-head peristaltic pump 12 for dilution/conditioning can comprise for example Masterflex (Cole-Parmer) Model 7523-30. Each capillary tube from the head is preferably immersed in the reactor and draws separate microstreams at preferably about 50 microliters per minute. Mixing Ts 13 accept reactor fluid from pump 12 and dilution fluid from the second multi-head peristaltic pump 15. Two rows 14 of ten detectors each can include a first row of ten detectors preferably comprising ten single capillary viscometers each fed in series by an outlet stream from one of the ten light scattering cells 110. The second row preferably comprises ten custom built fluorescence detection cells, each temperature thermostatted, and each with dual 90 degree fiber optics mounted integrally to the cell, after the fashion of the SMSLS-type cells 110. The cells are preferably illuminated with a laser, and optical notch filters from Newport Corp. detect the fluorescent light. A second peristaltic pump 15, such as pump 12, with each capillary, however, preferably extracting solvents from different dilution reservoirs 16. Dilution reservoirs 16 preferably contain aqueous solvent at different ionic strengths, and preferably with an appropriate pyridine dye or derivative that changes fluorescence properties when the polyelectrolyte micellizes.
(64) Here is a scenario of how the whole system might work: For concreteness we synthesize a random copolymer, with a charged monomer (e.g. styrene sulfonate, a quaternized acrylamide, etc.) and a neutral monomer (e.g. acrylamide, vinyl pyrrolidone, etc.). These are at 2.1% by combined weight in an aqueous reactor solution containing 0.005M of NaCl, with a total volume of 750 ml. A suitable free radical initiator is used (e.g. potassium persulfate) to initiate the reaction, carried out in the reactor 101 under N.sub.2 at 60 degrees C. The conductivity and pH probes monitor these characteristics within the reactor throughout the reaction. (In a second experiment we synthesize a diblock copolymer using controlled radical polymerization.)
(65) The front-end 103 extracts reactor liquid at the rate of 0.05 mL/minute which is led to the LPMC and mixed with 0.1M NaCl aqueous solvent from reservoir 104 entering the LPMC at 1.0 mL/min, yielding a 21 fold dilution. LPMC liquid is extracted at 0.5 mL/min and mixed with 0.1 M NaCl aqueous solvent from reservoir 104 also at 0.5 mL/min in the high pressure mixing T, yielding a total dilution of 42, yielding 0.0005 g/mL of combined monomer and polymer flowing continuously through the detector train 105 at 1 ml/min. The slight total excess of 0.05 mL/min entering the LPMC is continuously extracted to waste by the level control pump on the LPMC. The 0.1M NaCl solution largely suppresses interpolymer electrostatic effects.
(66) The signals in the detectors in 105 are combined according to the many published methods by Reed et al. to yield the following quantities: Cumulative and instantaneous weight average molecular polymer weight, cumulative and instantaneous weight average polymer reduced viscosity, cumulative and instantaneous z-averaged polymer radius of gyration, cumulative and instantaneous conversion of each monomer, and average composition drift and distribution. This portion of the system will also alert the experimenter if any unusual process occurs; e.g. the light scattering will immediately detect the onset of microgelation. The conductivity probe in the reactor helps monitor the degree of counterion condensation of the polyelectrolyte chains.
(67) Meanwhile, the pump 12 is extracting ten separate streams of 0.01 ml/min from the reactor 101 and mixing in the Ts 13 with separate aqueous solvents 16 fed into the Ts 13 via the second multi-head pump 15 at a rate of 0.5 mL/min, giving a 51 dilution. The ten aqueous solvents all contain a sub millimolar concentration of pyridine, and each has a different ionic strength, produced by adding NaCl, ranging as follows: 0.0001 M, 0.0005M, 0.001M, 0.005M, 0.010M, 0.050M, 0.1M, 0.25M, 0.5M, 1.0M. The 51 diluted solutions at the varying final ionic strength (taking into account the 0.005M ionic strength before the 51 dilution) each flow through their respective detector train 110, 14; 90 degree light scattering, capillary viscometer, fluorescence cell.
(68) The information obtained from these detectors yields: how reduced viscosity and light scattering intensity (a function of second virial coefficient A.sub.2, which is extremely sensitive to ionic strength) react to the different ionic strengths at each moment of synthesis, and the fluorescence detector yield information only if and when micellization occurs. The light scattering and viscosity detectors will also be sensitive to any aggregation, micellization, and significant conformational changes that occur at different states of the reaction and under different ionic strengths.
(69) Hence, one obtains unified, cross-correlated data on the state of the reactioncomposition, molecular weight, and other features of the chains being produced via ACOMP front end 103 and ACOMP detector train 105and on the behavior of the polymers vis--vis external stimuli (ionic strength) and vis--vis their own tendency to self-organize into micelles or other types of aggregates. This massive, unified data will then allow one both to better understand what characteristics are required to obtain specific polymer stimuli-responsive and self-organizing behavior, and to optimize reactions for producing targeted polymer properties.
(70) A Unified Approach to Understanding Polyelectrolytes by Monitoring their Synthesis and Associated Endproduct Characteristics with Novel Methods
(71) ACOMP Background and Summary of Results
(72) Automatic Continuous Online Monitoring of Polymerization reactions (ACOMP) yields continuous, model-independent monomer conversion, weight average mass M.sub.w and intrinsic viscosity [].sub.w, monomer conversion, z-average mean square radius of gyration <S.sup.2>.sub.z, measures of polydispersity, and average composition drift and distributions, and reactivity ratios (RR) for copolymerization. It does not require size exclusion chromatography (SEC), or other separation techniques, although they have been included for certain applications. The ACOMP principle is to withdraw continuously or substantially continuously a tiny stream from the reactor and dilute it to where detected signals represent properties of individual polymer molecules, not their interactions. Sample stream conditioning prior to detection can include debubbling, filtration, phase inversion, monomer volatilization, etc. Detection typically involves multi-angle light scattering (MALS), viscosity, refractive index (RI) and ultraviolet/visible absorption (UV/Vis), but can also use other detectors, such as ones to detect Mie and dynamic light scattering (DLS), conductivity , etc. Massive data sets are captured and analyzed, and ACOMP makes use of the huge storage, computational, and data transfer capabilities available in modern computer and internet platforms.
(73) ACOMP is of interest in three major areas: 1) Formulating and testing kinetic and mechanistic models in order to develop novel materials, reactants, synthetic routes, and processes. 2) Scale-up and process optimization at bench and pilot plant levels. 3) ACOMP, used until now for monitoring, is ready for control of polymer reactions. This can accelerate discovery and development of new polymers, and, at the industrial level, it promises economic benefits in the more efficient use of non-renewable resources, energy, plant and personnel time, improved product quality, and less pollution. Ideally, ACOMP will lead to a new, global standard for the 21.sup.st century polymer manufacturing industry.
(74) ACOMP was developed starting in 1998..sup.1 Absolute, Real-time Monitoring of Polymerization Reactions led to expansion of ACOMP and co-developed methods; Automatic Continuous Mixing (ACM) and Simultaneous Multiple Sample Light Scattering (SMSLS). ACOMP has been applied to free radical copolymerization,.sup.2,3,4 step-growth, branching reactions,.sup.5 controlled radical copolymerization (CRP); Nitroxide Mediated Polymerization (NMP),.sup.6,7 Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP),.sup.8 and Reversible Addition Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT);.sup.9 emulsion,.sup.10 and inverse emulsion polymerization,.sup.11 copolyelectrolyte synthesis,.sup.12,13 and semi-batch.sup.14,15 and continuous reactors..sup.16 New understanding of basic aspects of these processes has been gained as a result. Validation has been made at each stage on reaction aliquots and endproducts by multi-detector SEC and other traditional equilibrium measurements.
(75) ACM characterizes the conformational, interaction and viscosity behavior of polymers in complex, multi-component systems in equilibrium, using gradients of polymer and other solution components;.sup.17 e.g. ACM can probe dependence of copolyelectrolyte properties on ionic strength, IS, and the valence, symmetry and chemical species of added electrolyte..sup.18,19
(76) In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, the present inventor's group was invited to the Polymer Sci. & Eng. Dept. at U. Mass., Amherst. A complete ACOMP lab was set up there, highly complementary collaborations were engendered, and the method was quickly extended to several state-of-the-art reaction types and monomers.
(77) The last renewal, after repatriation of the present inventor's group to Tulane, focused on using ACOMP to understand properties of copolymer polyelectrolytes, or copolyelectrolytes by monitoring their synthesis. Accomplishments from this renewal are outlined below.
(78) Basic and Applied Results (Roman Numerals are Associated Publications from the List Immediately Below this Discussion)
(79) The project was and continues to be successful (Jul. 31, 2009 end-date) in relating the previously disparate fields of synthetic chemistry of copolymers and the physical chemical properties of polyelectrolytes (v, vi, xii, xvii, xviii). New means for ACOMP to monitor comonomer conversion using full spectrum UV were developed (i), and the traditional problems for determining copolymer molecular weights by light scattering in one solvent were solved using ACOMP's continuous comonomer concentration data and developing a corresponding mathematical formalism (vii). The evolution of solution conductivity, was connected to copolyelectrolyte linear charge density (vi, xii, xvii); e.g.
(80) As an integral part of this copolyelectrolyte work, new frontiers in monitoring non-ideal aspects of polymerization were opened: ACOMP was applied to quantifying deviations from livingness' in Nitroxide Mediated Polymerization (NMP) (iii) and Reversible Addition Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) (ix).
(81) The new methods were applied to exotic monomers with active esters, suited for post polymerization modification (ii), including determination of reactivity ratios (RR). Very fast Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization (ROMP).sup.21 reactions were monitored for the first time, with surprising contrasts in living behavior between cyclooctadiene and norbornene derivatives (iv). The high resolution of the new copolymer monitoring method allowed first time monitoring and quantification of the cross-over from decomposition controlled to diffusion controlled radical initiation within single reactions, and among sets of reactions (xiii).
(82) A major advance in emulsion polymerization monitoring was the novel concept of simultaneous dual stream extraction in ACOMP, in which one stream was diluted with aqueous phase to preserve latex particle structures for online Mie scattering/DLS analysis, while the other stream was diluted with aqueous compatible organic solvent (THF) to form a homogeneous solution of polymer, monomer, and surfactant, on which measurements of conversion, M.sub.w, etc. are made (xi).
(83) Another ACOMP advance was the coupling of multi-detector SEC to the non-chromatographic, continuous detector stream (xiv). Since the front-end of the ACOMP unit delivers a conditioned, diluted stream to the detectors, an auto-injector feeding a multi-detector SEC system was coupled to the outlet of the detector stream.
(84) Central to the current proposal, preliminary work on control of polymerization reactions using ACOMP has been carried out, and is on-going (xv, xvi), and is discussed further below.
(85) The advantages of ACOMP have become better known in the Polymer Science & Engineering community and two invited articles reviewing the field were produced during this period (viii, x).
PUBLICATIONS
(86) i. Macromolecules, 39, 5705-5713, 2006. ii. Macromolecules, 39, 8283-8292, 2006. iii. Macromolecules, 39, 8213-8215, 2006. iv. Macromolecules, 40, 444-451, 2007. v. J. Phys. Chem. B, 111, 8560-8566, 2007. vi. Macromolecules, 40, 4409-4413, 2007. vii. Macromolecules, 40, 8040-8049, 2007. viii. Polymer International (invited), 57, 390-396, 2008. ix. Macromolecules, 41, 332-338, 2008. x. Macromolecular Symposia, (Modelling, Monitoring and Control of Polymer Properties), 271, 15-25, 2008. xi. Macromolecules, 41, 2406-2414, 2008. xii. J. Phys. Chem. B, 112, 14597-14608, 2008. xiii. Macromol. Chem. Phys., 209, 24, 2463-2474, 2008. xiv. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 13, 190-198, 2009. xv. T. Kreft, W. F. Reed, Predictive control and verification of conversion kinetics and polymer molar mass distributions in semi-batch reactions, European Polymer J., in press xvi. T. Kreft, W. F. Reed, Predictive control of average composition and molecular weight distribution (MWD) in semi-batch free radical copolymerization reactions, Macromolecules, in press xvii. T. Kreft, W. F. Reed, Cross-over from non-condensed to counterion condensed regimes during free rad. polyelectrolyte copolym. under high composition drift conditions, J. Phys. Chem. B, web edition, May 22, 2009. xviii. L. Zheng, A. M. Alb, W. F. Reed, Online monitoring of reaction kinetics in the case of copolymeric polyelectrolytes produced by RAFT polymerizationnovel approaches, in preparation.
Relation of Completed Work to Proposed Work
(87) The completed and ongoing work has expanded ACOMP applications into most major classes of polymerization, with the recent focus on copolyelectrolytes, and extensions to living and heterogeneous phase reactions. Each new application helps solve basic polymer science problems. The proposed work will develop 2.sup.nd generation ACOMP as it faces wholly new challenges; moving beyond monitoring to reaction control, to produce polymers on-command, and extending the ACOMP platform to monitor, and later to control, the stimuli-responsiveness of polymers. This work has basic dimensions dealing with kinetics and mechanisms of polymerization reactions, especially as contrasted in homogeneous and emulsion phase reactions, and the thermodynamics of self-organization in solution of polymers, and applied aspects, requiring further novel instrumentation and methodology development. ACM will be important in characterizing phase transition and self-organizing characteristics of copolymer endproducts.
Project Description
Online Monitoring and Control of Polymerization Reactions with Application to Stimuli Responsive Polymers
Introduction
(88) The sophistication of polymeric materials is increasing rapidly as new synthetic routes and processes are developed. Improved and often transformational polymers are found in high performance aeronautical and marine coatings, fuel cell membranes, sensors, nanostructure components, pharmaceuticals, biomedical materials, water treatment, paper making, oil recovery, and biomimetic agents, and self-healing materials. Many such polymers are stimuli responsive.
(89) At the same time, new analytical approaches are required to solve basic and applied problems, optimize processes, and provide means of reaction control. Furthermore, means are needed to monitor copolymer characteristics, including composition and molecular mass distributions,.sup.22,23,24 RR,.sup.25,26,27 and complex phenomena associated with polymers, such as micellization, aggregation and other supramolecular assemblies, and phase and surface behavior..sup.28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35 Currently, post-synthetic analysis relies on tedious cross-fractionation and other coupled techniques. These include calorimetry, densimetry,.sup.36 liquid chromatography,.sup.37 temperature rising elution fractionation,.sup.38,39,40,41 crystallization fractionation,.sup.42 SEC alone,.sup.43,44 SEC/NMR,.sup.45 SEC/MALDI,.sup.46 and SEC/thin layer chromatography,.sup.47,48,49 and temperature gradient interaction chromatography..sup.50 Little information concerning the evolution of polymer characteristics can be gleaned by these approaches and there is no opportunity for control. ACOMP follows kinetics, composition drift, and evolution of average composition distribution, molar mass, and [] distributions. The polymer is hence born characterized. Importantly, information-rich ACOMP results also provide a more complete database for polymer scientists in the broader community involved in modeling and reaction engineering.
(90) With its broad range of monitoring applicability secured, a 2.sup.nd generation ACOMP will be created to control reactions by both predictive and active feedback approaches, and expand to monitoring and control of polymers that have, or acquire during synthesis, specific stimuli responsiveness. Such polymers include those whose properties change with changing environmental factors, such as temperature, light, pH, solvent quality, presence of specific molecules, etc. Potential applications of these materials make them an exciting interface between chemical and biomolecular engineering, chemistry, and physics. The onset or change of stimuli responsiveness, such as conformational transformations, ability to interact with target molecules, copolymer micellization, etc. have complex relationships to polymer mass, architecture, copolymer distribution, blockiness, sequence length distributions, etc. This work takes the novel approach of monitoring when onset or changes of stimuli responsiveness occur during synthesis, providing a powerful new tool for understanding the underlying polymer physics, and controlling and manipulating polymer structure/function relationships.
(91) The present inventor uses the term 2.sup.nd generation ACOMP because it takes the next steps in advancing ACOMP, by developing new reaction control strategies and an expanded platform for monitoring, understanding, and controlling the evolution of stimuli responsive polymers during synthesis. At the same time that ACOMP's ability to address basic science questions is growing, its use of massive data storage, analysis, and transfer is becoming correspondingly more sophisticated. The present inventor is involved in a range of industrial sector projects whose specificity complements the basic science scope of the present invention. Projects include determining reaction kinetics and properties of synthetic polypeptides, elastomers, graft copolymers, copolyelectrolytes for water treatment, acrylate copolymers in emulsion, etc.
(92) The present inventor has broad experience in carrying out many types of polymer syntheses, including CRP methods; NMP,.sup.6,7 ATRP,.sup.8 and RAFT..sup.9 The present inventor has access to traditional methods such as FTIR, DSC, NMR, and a complete suite of cryogenic imaging instruments. New ACOMP results are constantly validated with multi-detector SEC and other methods.
(93) Background on Approaches to Polymerization Reaction Control
(94) The development of more sophisticated polymers requires corresponding advances for controlling the polymerization reactions themselves, especially as regards control of polymer molecular weight, copolymer composition, architecture, and stimuli responsiveness.
(95) The lack of on-line measurement of polymer properties is usually the main problem in closed-loop control of polymerization reactions. Hence open-loop methods are frequently used. The controllers employed in closed-loop methods use some on-line measurements, but none have had continuous or substantially continuous streams of co-conversion, molecular weight and other pertinent data available, precisely the type of massive data stream provided by ACOMP.
(96) There is extensive work on measuring, controlling and engineering more robust polymerization reactors..sup.51 Much attention has centered on maintaining pressure, temperature, level and flow in the reactor..sup.52,53,54 Online composition measurement techniques, include FTIR,.sup.55 NIR, Raman,.sup.56 calorimetry,.sup.57 and gas chromatography. There are typically serious problems with drift and bias in the empirical and inferential models used for data interpretation, and fouling of in-situ probes. Controlling composition during copolymerization includes the Kalman filter method, based on linear approximation of the nonlinear process,.sup.58 but it has stability and convergence problems..sup.59,60 Nonlinear methods have hence been developed,.sup.61,62,63,64,65 as well as Linear and non-linear Model Predictive Control algorithms..sup.66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74
(97) The semi-batch approach, for selective reagent feed policies to the reactor has been extensively elaborated,.sup.75 especially for emulsion polymerization and copolymer composition,.sup.76,77,78,79,80 including for CRP..sup.81,82 Composition and MWD control was achieved in emulsion copolymerization in an open-loop method, maintaining the ratio of comonomers..sup.83,84
(98) Efforts to control M.sub.w have been reported..sup.59,78,85,86 Usually, the main difficulty in controlling M.sub.w is the lack of on-line sensors. In general, molecular weight is controlled by manipulating the concentration of monomer, initiator, or chain transfer agent, CTA..sup.87,88,89,90,91,92
(99) Background on Stimuli Responsive Polymers
(100) Precisely engineered complex and architecturally sophisticated polymers that can perform more intelligent functions than traditional polymers will dominate the frontier of advanced polymeric materials in the 21.sup.st century. They can micellize, aggregate, and respond to stimuli, such as temperature, light, solvent polarity, different solvents and solvent mixtures, the presence of specific agents, multivalent ions, proteins, anti-bodies, receptors, etc..sup.93,94,95,96,97 Applications include sensing, encapsulation and release of agents (e.g. drugs), micropatterning, bioconjugated polymers for medical applications, etc..sup.98,99,100 There is considerable interest in fine tuning polymers to have well behaved phase transitions and interaction properties..sup.101,102,103 Such transitions are of basic and applied interest. They arise from the thermodynamics of complex systems, often involving cooperative behavior. These transitions depend on many factors, such as pH, IS, solvent type and polarity, solvent chaotropicity or cosmotropicity, temperature, irradiation by light, and addition of interacting agents (e.g. small molecules, dyes, etc.), as well as on the molecular weight distribution (MWD) and copolymeric composition and microstructure of the polymers themselves. Other examples concern the many types of associations that can take place between polymers and other polymers, micelles, emulsions, vesicles, liposomes, proteins, polypeptides, etc. These often involve formation of supramolecular structures promoted by electrostatic, hydrophobic, depletion, and other forces..sup.104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113
(101) Current methods for relating polymer characteristics to their stimuli responsiveness are cumbersome and inefficient. They normally involve synthesis of a series of end-products that are then tested for stimuli responsiveness. The mere preparation of polymeric test products can be disproportionately time-consuming, and require such steps as precipitation, purification, freeze-drying, re-dissolution, dialysis, etc. In contrast, the ACOMP approach has proven successful in a wide variety of contexts and avoids these process steps by substituting fluid-fluid sample handling; reactor fluid is continuously extracted, diluted and conditioned to produce a continuously measurable sample stream. No intermediate solid phases are used, and the often high levels of dilution (up to factors 10.sup.4) can effectively even change solvents. Such extraction/dilution/conditioning typically occurs on times of tens to hundreds of seconds.
(102) Stimuli responsiveness testing can involve high throughput screening of end-products, such as multiple well, channel plates, or continuous gradient devices. Spectroscopic or other detection of transitions can be made..sup.114,115 These methods, however, have no means of determining when during synthesis the polymer's stimuli responsiveness begins to appear. It would take many more reactions to explore even a finite number of compositions and MWD, whereas the during-synthesis method proposed below allows continuous determination, in single experiments, of polymer characteristics required for sharp or gradual changes in stimuli responsiveness.
Outline of Principal Project Dimensions
(103) Below is an outline of an embodiment of the present invention. The numbered sections are for convenience only, since the project is highly integrated and the issues are interwoven throughout. For illustration n-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAM) and comonomers will be used as reference reagents to show the interconnectedness from control principles, to different mechanisms and phases of polymerization, to stimuli responsiveness. The project is not restricted to NIPAM and its comonomers, however. One important dimension of the project is establishing feasibility of new analyses, methods, and instrumentation with reference reagents.
A. Control
(104) Predictive Control in Semi-Batch Homo- and Copolymerization Reactions
(105) i. Control of M.sub.w in Homogeneous Phase Free Radical Homopolymerization and of M.sub.w and Particle Size in Corresponding Emulsion Phase Reactions
(106) This stage focuses on quantitative predictions and online verification of targeted conversion kinetics and M.sub.w during free radical homopolymerization under semi-batch reagent feed to the reactor. Detailed kinetic parameters furnished by ACOMP provide the quantitative basis for predictive control, and, subsequently, ACOMP serves immediately as a means of online validation of the predicted reaction trajectories. Reagent feeds need not be constant and can be tapered and modulated in calculable ways to obtain polymers on-command. An important theme is the contrast in basic kinetics and mechanisms between homogeneous phase and corresponding emulsion phase reactions. Far less has been published on control of M.sub.w in emulsion polymerization than on particle size distributions.
(107) The present inventor and others have established formalisms combining reaction kinetics with time dependent reactant flows into the reactor.
(108) Considering the broad applicability of polymer latexes in nanotechnology, biomedical and other areas, work will next focus on predictive control in the synthesis of latexes with desired size and M.sub.w properties..sup.116,117,118,119,120,121,122,123 Portions of the control strategies established for homogeneous phase will be adapted to emulsion semi-batch reactions to obtain these properties.
(109) The emulsion semi-batch methods are predicated on manipulating monomer starved and flooded regimes,.sup.124,125,126 dictated by the combination of inherent conversion kinetics, reagent flow rates, and reactor volumes. The multiple detection ACOMP platform yields data rich results on which more refined models can be constructed.
(110) In this section, the method of Alb and Reed.sup.10 to simultaneously monitor particle size distribution, M.sub.w and conversion will be applied to predictive control of these characteristics. Addition of dynamic light scattering (DLS) detection (BIC nano-DLS) to the online monitoring, with good size resolution in the 1-1000 nm range will complement the Mie scattering in current use with range >100 nm.
(111) Preliminary results (Alb/Reed) on M.sub.w and monomer/polymer concentrations for MMA-starved semibatch polymerization have been obtained and the transition between monomer starved and flooded regimes have been directly monitored while feeding reagents into the reactor under different flow schemes.
(112) In this part, the effect of feed rate on approach to quasi-steady state, latex particle characteristics, and polymer M.sub.w and [].sub.w and their correlation to the monomer conversion kinetics will be quantified and compared with existing models,.sup.118,120,121,124,125 and serve as the basis for this group's own modeling efforts. This type of approach to the detailed inter-relationship of kinetics, particle size distribution and polymer MWD will form the basis for designing predictive routes to targeted latex and polymer properties. This part will also study monomers with very different aqueous solubility, such as BA and methyl acrylate (MA) to quantify effects of monomer partitioning on particle size, polymer M.sub.w and conversion kinetics.
(113) ii. Composition and M.sub.w Control in Copolymerization
(114) Building on part i, semi-batch operation will be extended to control of composition distribution and M.sub.w in the case of copolymerization. Guided by comonomer conversion kinetics and RR from ACOMP, it will be possible to calculate the reagent feeds required to produce desired composition drifts, and hence composition distributions. Good candidates are NIPAM and VB. Because there is usually an M.sub.w dependence associated with composition, in addition to reaction conditions, it will be possible to target both M.sub.w ranges and composition distributions. Initial work will be in homogeneous phase.
(115) Applying semi-batch to control emulsion copolymerization reactions is much more challenging for both fundamental and practical reasons; e.g. different degrees of comonomer aqueous solubility lead to different partitioning among dynamically evolving aqueous, micellar, droplet, and latex phases, while exothermicity at high solids leads to non-isothermal polymerization kinetics.
(116) To achieve desired comonomer composition, copolymerization reactions will be performed under different feed policies. Comomomers with different RR and degrees of hydrophobicity, such as NIPAM and styrene will be used in these reactions. Resulting latex particles exhibit temperature responsiveness..sup.127 The present inventor's research group has obtained promising preliminary results from the NIPAM/styrene soap-free emulsion copolymerization. ACM and DLS will be used for a complete validation of the endproducts in terms of colloidal properties, stability vs. pH, ionic strength and temperature.
(117) Few studies treat simultaneous control of M.sub.w and particle size distributions..sup.128,129 Here, the effect of CTA on reaction kinetics, particle nucleation, radical partitioning, and hence on M.sub.w distribution and on the polymerization rate will be investigated. A database of reaction parameters from experiments in batch will be used in the calculation of the optimal feed schemes for comonomers and CTA (e.g. tertdodecyl mercaptan and dodecanethiol) to be followed during semi-batch reactions to achieve desired composition and MWD copolymers.
(118) iii. Composition and M.sub.w Control of Living Copolymerization (RAFT)
(119) Results of predictive semi-batch control developed in part ii will help guide control of composition gradients of polymers produced by CRP. The fact that conversion kinetics and RR are usually similar for a given comonomer pair in corresponding living and free radical copolymerization lets the CRP work build on the latter.
(120) CRP allows gradient copolymers to be produced, not possible in classical radical polymerization, in which the composition profile changes along the chain, leading to distinctive material properties..sup.130,131,132,133,134,135,136 ACOMP joins other methods.sup.137,138,139,140,141 which study and quantify deviations from livingness in RAFT kinetics under different conditions. E.g.
(121) Comonomer pairs with widely separated RR (e.g. N-(2-hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide and N-methacryloyloxysuccinimide) will be exploited to synthesize copolymers with broad, predicted compositions. The semi-batch approach with calculated rate of addition of the more reactive comonomer will allow constant copolymer composition to be maintained or other desired composition profiles to be produced. Again, the ability of ACOMP both to furnish the kinetic basis for quantitative predictions and to provide immediate online validation of the predictions during subsequent reactions is of decisive importance in this approach.
(122) RAFT Emulsion Polymerization
(123) Adaptation of CRP to emulsion has been made with varying degrees of success..sup.142,143,144 RAFT is especially suited for heterogeneous aqueous systems, since its reaction conditions are as robust as typical free radical polymerization..sup.145,146,147,148,149,150,151,152 Promising preliminary ACOMP studies in this group were made monitoring the RAFT polymerization of BA in emulsion, based on the procedure established at CSIRO..sup.146 Work here will focus on trying to achieve the most living character possible in the reactions, hence improving MWD control. The approach will be used on different monomers (e.g. MA, BA, styrene) while studying how different factors such as chain dimensions, monomer aqueous solubility, monomer feed rate, the transport of RAFT agents to polymerization sites, the radical entry and exit in and from the latex particles, colloidal stability, affect the living character of the reaction and the particle size.
(124) Active Control in Homo- and Copolymerization Reactions
(125) While active control is not a primary focus of this proposal, some aspects to be developed will have important consequences for both on-command polymer synthesis and in the polymer stimuli responsiveness studies described below.
(126) iv. Conversion Endpoint/Trigger Control.
(127) Precise monitoring and control of reaction conversion, especially in the final phases, are often needed: environmental and safety restrictions frequently limit the amount of residual monomer in a polymer lot (<10 ppm is typical); very high conversion is often required before proceeding to form subsequent blocks in multi-block copolymers; efficient use of reactors requires accurate reaction timing; in semi-batch or continuous reactors, the steady state conversion level for production rate and reagent recycling must be known; in changeover from one product composition to another in continuous reactors, it must be known when the new composition is reached.
(128) As first steps in automated control of free radical homopolymerization, both in batch and semi-batch, conversion will be monitored and the reaction automatically terminated when the endpoint is reached. Tight limits on residual monomer will be targeted, with the following proposed strategy; Tandem full spectrum UV detectors will be used, one with a 0.01 cm pathlength cell that quantifies conversion up to 99%, followed by another with a 1 cm cell that will be saturated during most of conversion, but will then come on scale at >99% conversion, and monitor residual monomer down to 10's of ppm. The full spectrum will allow distinguishing between residual absorption and small admixtures of scattering. Automatic control will involve quenching the reaction, reducing temperature, halting any reagent feeds, and returning detector flows to pure solvent. The present inventor's lab has multiple resources for instrument control, computer programming and graphical user interface development for this purpose.
(129) This strategy will be extended to living multiblock copolymerization. A second block of copolymer will be initiated automatically upon reaching a conversion setpoint whereupon a signal will start the flow of the second monomer and change any other conditions necessary; e.g. extra initiator, RAFT agent, solvent, etc. This process can be extended to multi-blocks.
(130) The ACOMP data can distinguish when the second block is being properly polymerized to the first or is merely homopolymerizing. E.g. in
B. Monitoring and Controlling Evolution of Stimuli Responsiveness During Polymer Synthesis
(131) It is proposed here that the evolution of stimuli responsiveness can be monitored vs continuously changing M.sub.w, composition, and other characteristics (e.g. polyelectrolyte , polymer branching, cross-linking, click reactions, etc.) as polymers evolve during their synthesis. This approach will allow stimuli responsiveness to be assessed on the equivalent of a continuum of endproducts. The proposed new 2.sup.nd generation ACOMP configurations preferably will still also include the basic detector train for determining M.sub.w, copolymer conversion, etc. but high throughput multi-detectors will be added to probe stimuli responsive effects.
(132) This work will develop the proposed method focusing on a single type of stimuli responsiveness, Lower Critical Solution Temperature (LCST). It will then be vigorously employed to investigate the basic physics and many factors controlling polymeric LCST.
(133) This method, if successful, promises broad impact for accelerating the discovery and development of stimuli responsive polymers. It will be widely applicable and be suited to most reactions: living, post-polymerization modifications, step growth, free radical chain growth, grafting, branching, bioconjugation, etc. It will also be useful for batch, semi-batch, and continuous reactors. It should provide a rapid means of optimizing polymer properties to carry out desired stimuli responsive tasks, by quantifying how stimuli responsiveness evolves. Once it is known when during synthesis a polymer achieves desired stimuli responsiveness, polymers of precisely those characteristics at that point of synthesis can then be targeted as end products in subsequent experiments or manufacturing.
(134) As described, stimuli responsiveness can be manifested in many ways; conformational changes such as coil to globule (e.g. LCST) and helix to coil, micellization, whether uni- or plurimolecular, aggregation, whether reversible or not, ability to associate with specific agents, etc. While methods exist for observing polymeric stimuli responsiveness, e.g. turbidity, fluorescence, conductivity, surface tension, light scattering, circular dichroism, and birefringence,.sup.101,153,154,155 no during-synthesis methods exist, to the present inventor's knowledge, which simultaneously measure stimuli responsiveness and polymer properties, such as MWD and composition.
(135) In the focus of this work, high throughput light scattering detectors will be coupled to the system to make multiple, simultaneous measurements. SMSLS,.sup.156,157 a flexible family of relatively inexpensive scattering instruments developed by the present inventor is ideally suited for this and will be developed accordingly. SMSLS cells can be fabricated in-house. Holding each flow cell in series at different, increasing temperatures will allow determination of the LCST for as many M.sub.w and compositions of polymer as there are SMSLS flow cells. Light scattering is exquisitely sensitive to even the slightest amount of aggregation, so that the LCST will be immediately detectable in highly diluted sample streams.
(136) In another approach, the effect of different solvents on the LCST of evolving polymers during synthesis will be tested simultaneously using a multi-head peristaltic pump for multiple, tiny extraction flows from the reactor, with dilution in separate mixing chambers using another multi-head peristaltic pump drawing from multiple solvent reservoirs. The SMSLS flow cells, now held at the same temperature, will then detect the effect of each different solvent on the LCST. For example, the effect of IS on NIPAM LCST is well known..sup.101 For more complex, NIPAM-based copolymers and copolyelectrolytes, solvent effects will be even stronger.
(137) Specific Experiments Both to Develop the Method and Study Underlying Polymer Physics
(138) Polymers with LCST will be used first for developing the method. NIPAM's LCST is around 32 C. Different techniques are used to produce polymers with LCST.sup.158,159 and other stimuli responsiveness; pH, IS, UV, etc..sup.160,161
(139) After proving feasibility of the method with NIPAM under free radical homopolymerization, LCST dependence for low molecular weight polymers under RAFT polymerization will be quantified. LCST is only dependent on polymer degree of polymerization (DP) up to fairly low values (on the order of DP10.sup.2). RAFT allows a controlled, linear increase of DP (e.g.
(140) Next, copolyelectrolyte LCST study will provide intriguing new features and physics. A current project on which the inventor is working has developed tools for complete polyelectrolyte characterization during synthesis, including distribution. The above proposal portion on control will allow predictively harnessing composition drifts to produce widely different composition and property paths during synthesis. Having determined a control paradigm for VB (charged) and NIPAM (neutral) in the above portion, the effect of both large composition drift and distribution on the LCST can be explored. Increasing the fraction of VB will increase the LCST due to higher copolyelectrolyte solubility. Additionally, decreasing solvent ionic IS should likewise increase LCST due to increased interchain electrostatic excluded volume. The behavior of the LCST vs distribution and IS is a little explored field, but will allow better understanding of the underlying LCST physics and how LCST can be manipulated through targeted synthesis.
(141) The advantages of RAFT, together with predictive and automated endpoint control methods described above, will be exploited here to synthesize both block and gradient copolymers with LCST, such as NIPAM with other acrylamide derivatives (e.g. N,N-dimethylacrylamide, DMA)..sup.162 The goal is to better understand how changes in the polymer architecture and relative block and gradient composition affect the LCST. Selective solvents can be used to distinguish the behavior of the two species in the copolymer.
(142) Conceptual Flow Chart of how NIPAM Will Interconnect to the Various Portions of this Project
(143) TABLE-US-00001 Emphasis1 Emphasis2 Purpose Type Mechanism Comonomer M.sub.w control Feasibility Establish control Homopol. Free rad. X paradigm & X On-command polymers M.sub.w control Feasibility Establish control Homopol. Living X paradigm & On-command polymers M.sub.w/composition Polyelectrolyte Establish control Copolym. Free VB control physics paradigm & rad. On-command Living VB polymers M.sub.w/comp./ Kinetics Establish control Copolym. Free Styr. Particle size paradigm & rad. On-command polymers Feasibility Establish stimuli Homopol. Free X responsive rad. methodology Origins of LCST Homopol. Living X LCST dependence on M.sub.w Origins of LCST Copolym. Living DMA LCST dependence on composition Origins of Polyelectrolyte LCST Copolym. Free VB LCST physics dependence on rad. Composition & ionic strength
PART NUMBER DESCRIPTION
(144) 1 Polymerization reactor 2 Optional reactor probes 3 ACOMP front end 4 Solvent reservoir 5 ACOMP detector train 6 Microcomputer control 7 Optional auto-SEC 8 Waste vessel 9 Desired dilution/conditioning 10 Multiple detection modules 11 Multiple detection modules 12 Multi-head peristaltic pump 13 Mixing Ts 14 Multiple detection modules 15 Second peristaltic pump 16 Dilution reservoirs 101 Jacketed polymerization reactor 102 Reactor conductivity sensors 103 ACOMP front end 104 Solvent reservoir 105 The ACOMP detector train 106 Microcomputer control 107 Auto-SEC 108 Waste vessel 110 Static light scattering cells
(145) The following is a list of acronyms used herein and their descriptions:
ACRONYM DESCRIPTION
(146) A/D analog to digital ACM Automatic Continuous Mixing ACOMP Automatic Continuous Online Monitoring of Polymerization reactions ATRP Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization BA butyl acrylate BIC Brookhaven Instruments Corp. CCD Charge coupled device CRP Controlled radical copolymerization CSIRO an Australian research center CTA Chain transfer agent DLS Dynamic light scattering DMA N,N-dimethylacrylamide DP Degree of polymerization DSC Differential scanning calorimetry FTIR Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy GPC Gel permeation chromatography GUI Graphic user interface HPLC High pressure liquid chromatography IS Ionic strength LCST Lower critical solution temperature LPMC Low pressure mixing chamber MA methyl acrylate MALDI Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization MALS Multi-angle light scattering MMA methyl methacrylate MWD Molecular weight distribution NIPAM n-isopropyl acrylamide NMP Nitroxide Mediated Polymerization NMR nuclear magnetic resonance PolyRMC Tulane Center for Polymer Reaction Monitoring and Characterization RAFT Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer RI Refractive index ROMP Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization RR Reactivity ratios SEC Size Exclusion Chromatography SG-ACOMP Second generation ACOMP SMSLS Simultaneous multiple sample light scattering THF Tetrahydrofuran UV/Vis Ultraviolet/visible absorption VB vinyl benzene sulfonic acid Na+ form
(147) All measurements disclosed herein are at standard temperature and pressure, at sea level on Earth, unless indicated otherwise. All materials used or intended to be used in a human being are biocompatible, unless indicated otherwise.
(148) The foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only; the scope of the present invention is to be limited only by the following claims.