阅读说明：本技术 具有交联结构的微球状离聚物及其制备方法和应用 (Microspherical ionomer with cross-linked structure and preparation method and application thereof ) 是由 宋文波 袁浩 刘振杰 尹华 张洁 于 2019-10-28 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明属于高分子材料领域,涉及一种具有交联结构的微球状离聚物及其制备方法和应用。该离聚物含有至少一种式(1)所示的结构单元A、至少一种式(2)所示的结构单元B、任选的至少一种式(3)所示的结构单元C,以及由交联剂提供的交联结构,其中,M为金属阳离子,R-1和R-2各自独立地为H、烷基或芳香基,R为H或甲基。本发明的离聚物对PET具有良好的成核效果。(The invention belongs to the field of high polymer materials, and relates to a microspherical ionomer with a cross-linked structure, and a preparation method and application thereof. The ionomer comprises at least one structural unit A shown in a formula (1), at least one structural unit B shown in a formula (2), optionally at least one structural unit C shown in a formula (3), and a crosslinking structure provided by a crosslinking agent, wherein M is a metal cation, R is a metal cation, and 1 and R 2 Each independently is H, alkyl or aryl, and R is H or methyl. The ionomer of the present invention has good nucleation effect on PET.)

1. A microspheroidal ionomer having a crosslinked structure, wherein the ionomer comprises at least one structural unit A represented by formula (1), at least one structural unit B represented by formula (2), optionally at least one structural unit C represented by formula (3), and a crosslinked structure provided by a crosslinking agent,

wherein M is a metal cation, R₁And R₂Each independently is H, alkyl or aryl, and R is H or methyl.

2. The microspheroidal ionomer having a crosslinked structure according to claim 1 wherein the total molar amount of structural units A and C, the ratio of the molar amount of structural units B to the molar amount of crosslinked structure is 100: (100-120): (1-40), preferably 100: (100-105): (10-30).

3. The microspheroidal ionomer having a crosslinked structure according to claim 1 wherein the molar amount of structural unit a is 10 to 100%, preferably 40 to 99%, more preferably 50 to 95% of the total molar amount of structural unit a and structural unit C.

4. The microspheroidal ionomer having a crosslinked structure according to claim 1, wherein said ionomer has a degree of crosslinking of 55% or more, preferably said ionomer has a degree of crosslinking of 65% or more; the average particle size of the ionomer is 150-2000 nm.

5. The microspheroidal ionomer having a crosslinked structure according to claim 1, wherein R₁And R₂Each independently is H, substituted or unsubstituted C₁-C₂₀Alkyl, substituted or unsubstituted C₄-C₂₀An aromatic group; the substituted group is preferably halogen or hydroxy;

preferably, R₁And R₂Each independently is H, substituted or unsubstituted C₁-C₂₀Alkanyl, substituted or unsubstituted C₃-C₂₀Cycloalkyl, substituted or unsubstituted C₄-C₁₆An aromatic group;

more preferably, R₁And R₂Each independently selected from H, methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl, n-pentyl, cyclopentyl, n-hexyl, n-heptyl, n-octyl2-hydroxyethyl, 2-methylbutyl, 3-methylbutyl, cyclohexyl, n-nonyl, isononyl, decyl, 2-propylheptyl, 2-ethylhexyl, dodecyl, tetradecyl, hexadecyl, octadecyl, phenyl, benzyl, 2-methyl-phenyl, 3-methyl-phenyl, 4-methyl-phenyl, halophenyl, pyridyl, imidazolyl or naphthyl.

6. The microspheroidal ionomer having a crosslinked structure according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein said crosslinking agent is divinylbenzene and/or an acrylate crosslinking agent comprising at least two acrylate groups of the formula: -O-C (O) -C (R') ═ CH₂R' is H or C₁-C₄Alkyl groups of (a);

preferably, the crosslinking agent is selected from at least one of divinylbenzene, propylene glycol diacrylate, propylene glycol dimethacrylate, ethylene glycol diacrylate, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, ditrimethylolpropane tetraacrylate, ditrimethylolpropane tetramethacrylate, polyethylene glycol diacrylate, polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate, phthalic acid diethylene glycol diacrylate, pentaerythritol tetraacrylate, dipentaerythritol pentaacrylate, dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate, and ethoxylated multifunctional acrylate.

7. A method of making a microspheroidal ionomer, comprising the steps of:

(1) in an organic solvent, in the presence of an initiator, contacting maleic anhydride, a monomer B providing a structural unit B shown in a formula (2) and a crosslinking agent for reaction;

(2) mixing the product obtained in the step (1) with alkali and an amine compound to carry out ring-opening amination reaction in the presence of a dispersant.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the organic solvent comprises an organic acid alkyl ester, or a mixture of an organic acid alkyl ester with an alkane and/or an aromatic hydrocarbon; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the initiator is selected from at least one of dibenzoyl peroxide, dicumyl peroxide, di-tert-butyl peroxide, lauroyl peroxide, tert-butyl peroxybenzoate, diisopropyl peroxydicarbonate, dicyclohexyl peroxydicarbonate, azobisisobutyronitrile and azobisisoheptonitrile; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the crosslinking agent is divinyl benzene and/or an acrylate crosslinking agent containing at least two acrylate groups, and the structural formula of the acrylate groups is as follows: -O-C (O) -C (R') ═ CH₂R' is H or C₁-C₄Alkyl groups of (a); preferably, the crosslinking agent is selected from at least one of divinylbenzene, propylene glycol diacrylate, propylene glycol dimethacrylate, ethylene glycol diacrylate, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, ditrimethylolpropane tetraacrylate, ditrimethylolpropane tetramethacrylate, polyethylene glycol diacrylate, polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate, phthalic acid diethylene glycol diacrylate, pentaerythritol tetraacrylate, dipentaerythritol pentaacrylate, dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate, and ethoxylated multifunctional acrylate; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the alkali is selected from metal hydroxide and/or metal acetate; preferably, the base is selected from at least one of lithium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide, barium hydroxide, zinc hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, lithium acetate, sodium acetate, potassium acetate, calcium acetate, barium acetate, and zinc acetate.

9. The process according to claim 7, wherein the monomer B is used in an amount of 50 to 150mol, preferably 75 to 100mol, relative to 100mol of maleic anhydride; the dosage of the cross-linking agent is 1 to 40mol, preferably 10 to 30 mol; the dosage of the organic solvent is 50-150L, preferably 75-100L; the amount of the initiator used is 0.05 to 10mol, preferably 1 to 1.5 mol.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein in step (1), the reaction conditions are such that the degree of crosslinking of the ionomer is 55% or more, preferably 65% or more;

preferably, in step (1), the reaction conditions include: inert atmosphere at 50-90 deg.C for 3-15 h.

11. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein the amine-based compound is an alkylamine and/or an aromatic amine;

preferably, the amine-based compound is a primary or secondary amine;

preferably, the alkyl group in the alkylamine is a substituted or unsubstituted C₁-C₂₀An alkyl group; the aromatic group in the aromatic amine is substituted or unsubstituted C₄-C₂₀An aromatic group; the substituted group is preferably halogen or hydroxy;

more preferably, the alkyl group in the alkylamine is a substituted or unsubstituted C₁-C₂₀Alkyl or substituted or unsubstituted C₃-C₂₀A cycloalkyl group; the aromatic group in the aromatic amine is substituted or unsubstituted C₄-C₁₆An aromatic group;

further preferably, the amine-based compound is selected from at least one of methylamine, ethylamine, diethylamine, n-propylamine, isopropylamine, n-butylamine, isobutylamine, tert-butylamine, n-pentylamine, cyclopentylamine, n-hexylamine, n-heptylamine, n-octylamine, 2-hydroxyethylamine, 2-methylbutylamine, 3-methylbutylamine, cyclohexylamine, n-nonylamine, isononylamine, decylamine, 2-propylheptylamine, 2-ethylhexylamine, dodecylamine, tetradecylamine, hexadecylamine, octadecylamine, aniline, benzylamine, 2-methyl-aniline, 3-methyl-aniline, 4-methyl-aniline, haloaniline, pyridylamine, imidazolylamine and naphthylamine.

12. The method of any one of claims 7-10, wherein the dispersant is selected from C₂-C₁₀Ether of (C)₅-C₈To in alkanes ofOne kind of the compound is used; preferably, the dispersant is selected from at least one of diethyl ether, dipropyl ether, dibutyl ether, diisoamyl ether, methyl tert-butyl ether, diisopropyl ether, methyl isopropyl ether, petroleum ether, n-hexane and n-heptane.

13. The process according to any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein the base is used in an amount of 5 to 100mol, preferably 15 to 95mol, relative to 100mol of maleic anhydride; the amount of the amine compound is 50-500mol, preferably 100-450 mol;

the amount of the dispersant used is 2 to 15mL, preferably 5 to 8mL, per gram of the product obtained in step (1).

14. The process of any one of claims 7-10, wherein in step (2), the conditions of the ring-opening amination reaction comprise: the temperature is 20-150 ℃ and the time is 0.5-8 h.

15. A microspheroidal ionomer produced by the process of any one of claims 7 to 14.

16. Use of the microspheroidal ionomer of any one of claims 1 to 6 and 15 as a nucleating agent for the modification of polyethylene terephthalate.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the field of high polymer materials, and particularly relates to a microspherical ionomer with a cross-linked structure, and a preparation method and application thereof.

Background

An ionic polymer, called ionomer or ionomer for short, is a polymer material with a small amount of ionic groups on a high molecular chain, wherein the molar content of the ionic groups is not more than 15 percent generally. The ionomer is a perfect combination of inorganic ions and organic molecules, and due to the introduction of ionic groups, special interactions which are not existed in common polymers, such as ion-ion interaction, ion pair-ion pair interaction, ion-dipole interaction, hydrogen bond interaction and the like, exist among the molecules in the ionomer. These specific interactions give ionomers many unique properties and have important applications in polymer modification, functional materials, etc.

At present, researches on preparation and application of polymer microspheres are a hotspot in the field of functional polymer materials, and the polymer microspheres from nano-scale to micron-scale have the special properties of large specific surface area, strong adsorbability, large condensation effect and strong surface reaction capability, and can be widely applied to many high and new technical fields.

Leiqinlong uses tetrahydrofuran/DMF as reaction solvent in the process research of preparing polystyrene-N-phenylmaleimide by SMA imidization method (Master academic thesis, 2014, university of Shanghai, Japan), SMA and aniline react, after the reaction is finished, the reaction liquid is dripped into 4 times of excessive ethylbenzene for precipitation, and styrene-N-phenylmaleamic acid is obtained by filtration, separation and drying.

CN102924641A discloses a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nucleating agent and a preparation method thereof, wherein the nucleating agent is a styrene/maleic acid ionomer prepared by hydrolyzing, salifying and purifying a random copolymer or an alternating copolymer of styrene and maleic anhydride. The preparation method comprises the following steps: uniformly mixing a maleic anhydride monomer, a styrene monomer, an initiator and a solvent, heating and reacting for 1-1.5 hours at 60-80 ℃ in a nitrogen atmosphere, separating out a reaction product in the solvent, purifying, drying in vacuum to obtain a copolymer, dissolving the copolymer in 1, 4-dioxane, dripping an alkali alcohol solution, separating out a generated ionomer from a precipitator, carrying out vacuum filtration, and purifying to obtain the styrene/maleic acid ionomer. The ionomer can increase the crystallization temperature of PET and accelerate the crystallization rate.

CN103145903A discloses a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nucleating agent and a preparation method thereof, the nucleating agent is a polystyrene-b-poly (styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) diblock ionomer prepared by hydrolyzing, salinizing and purifying polystyrene-b-poly (styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) diblock copolymer. The nucleating agent can form microphase separation in the PET melt, thereby providing crystal nucleus for PET crystallization.

However, the nucleation effect of the polymer prepared by the above method on PET still has room for improvement.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to overcome the defects in the prior art and provide a microspherical ionomer with a cross-linked structure and a preparation method and application thereof.

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a microspheroidal ionomer having a crosslinked structure, said ionomer comprising at least one structural unit a represented by formula (1), at least one structural unit B represented by formula (2), optionally at least one structural unit C represented by formula (3), and a crosslinked structure provided by a crosslinking agent,

wherein M is a metal cation, R₁And R₂Each independently is H, alkyl or aryl, and R is H or methyl.

A second aspect of the invention provides a method of making a microspheroidal ionomer, the method comprising:

(1) in an organic solvent, in the presence of an initiator, contacting maleic anhydride, a monomer B providing a structural unit B shown in a formula (2) and a crosslinking agent for reaction;

(2) mixing the product obtained in the step (1) with alkali and an amine compound to carry out ring-opening amination reaction in the presence of a dispersant.

A third aspect of the invention provides a microspheroidal ionomer produced by the method of the second aspect.

In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides the use of the above microspheroidal ionomer as a nucleating agent for the modification of polyethylene terephthalate.

In the invention, a styrene monomer, maleic anhydride, a cross-linking agent and an initiator are dissolved in an organic solvent according to a certain proportion to obtain polymer microspheres; and mixing the polymer microspheres with alkali and an amino compound for reaction to obtain the corresponding ionomer microspheres containing amide groups. Because the ionomer has a microsphere structure, the ionomer has better dispersibility in polymer modification applications. And compared with the ionomer obtained by salinizing the polymer microspheres only by mixing with alkali in an aqueous system in the prior art, the ionomer has better polymer modification performance.

The ionomer (or ionomer microsphere) has a cross-linking and microsphere structure, has a good nucleation effect on PET, is simple in preparation method, can be obtained through simple separation operation after the reaction is finished, and does not need to use a precipitator, so that the preparation method is green and environment-friendly.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows.

Drawings

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail by referring to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an infrared spectrum of an ionomer synthesized according to one embodiment (example 1) of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a scanning electron micrograph of an ionomer synthesized according to one embodiment of the present invention (example 1).

FIG. 3 is an infrared spectrum of the styrene/maleic acid sodium salt ionomer synthesized in comparative example 1.

Detailed Description

The following describes in detail specific embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the present invention, are given by way of illustration and explanation only, not limitation.

The microspherical ionomer with a cross-linked structure provided by the invention contains at least one structural unit A shown as a formula (1), at least one structural unit B shown as a formula (2), optionally at least one structural unit C shown as a formula (3) and a cross-linked structure provided by a cross-linking agent,

wherein M is a metal cation, R₁And R₂Each independently is H, alkyl or aryl, and R is H or methyl.

The term "ionomer" as used herein is well known in the art and is also referred to as an "ionic polymer" or "ionomer" and refers to a polymeric material with a small number of ionic groups on the polymer chains.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the ionomer, the total molar amount of the structural unit a and the structural unit C, the ratio of the molar amount of the structural unit B to the molar amount of the crosslinked structure is 100: (100-120): (1-40), preferably 100: (100-105): (10-30).

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the ionomer, the molar amount of the structural unit a is 10 to 100% (e.g., 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 100% or any value therebetween) of the total molar amount of the structural unit a and the structural unit C, preferably, the molar amount of the structural unit a is 40 to 99%, and more preferably, 50 to 95% of the total molar amount of the structural unit a and the structural unit C.

In the present invention, the ionomer preferably has a degree of crosslinking of 55% or more, and more preferably, the ionomer has a degree of crosslinking of 65% or more (e.g., 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, or any value therebetween). The ionomer is microspherical and has an average particle size of 150-2000nm (e.g., 150nm, 250nm, 350nm, 450nm, 550nm, 650nm, 750nm, 850nm, 950nm, 1050nm, 1150nm, 1250nm, 1350nm, 1450nm, 1550nm, 1650nm, 1750nm, 1850nm, 2000nm, or any value therebetween).

In the present invention, the molar content of the structural unit a, i.e., the molar content of the metal cation, is obtained by X-ray fluorescence spectrum analysis.

In the present invention, the degree of crosslinking is a measure of the gel content, as measured by a solvent extraction method using tetrahydrofuran as a solvent.

In the present invention, the average particle diameter is characterized by a number average particle diameter and measured by means of a scanning electron microscope.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, R₁And R₂Each independently is H, substituted or unsubstituted C₁-C₂₀Alkyl, substituted or unsubstituted C₄-C₂₀An aromatic group; the substituted group is preferably halogen or hydroxy;

preferably, R₁And R₂Each independently is H, substituted or unsubstituted C₁-C₂₀Alkanyl, substituted or unsubstituted C₃-C₂₀Cycloalkyl, substituted or unsubstituted C₄-C₁₆An aromatic group;

more preferably, R₁And R₂Each independently selected from H, methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl, n-pentyl, cyclopentyl, n-hexyl, n-heptyl, n-octyl, 2-hydroxyethyl, 2-methylbutyl, 3-methylbutyl, cyclohexyl, n-nonyl, isononyl, decyl, 2-propylheptyl, 2-ethylhexyl, dodecyl, tetradecyl, hexadecyl, octadecyl, phenyl, benzyl, 2-methyl-phenyl, 3-methyl-phenyl, 4-methyl-phenyl, halophenyl, pyridyl, imidazolyl or naphthyl.

In the present invention, the crosslinking agent may be any of various conventional vinyl-containing monomers having two or more functionalities and capable of radical polymerization. Preferably, the crosslinking agent is divinylbenzene and/or an acrylate crosslinking agent containing at least two acrylate groups of the formula: -O-C (O) -C (R') ═ CH₂R' is H or C₁-C₄Alkyl (e.g., methyl).

More preferably, the crosslinking agent is selected from at least one of divinylbenzene, propylene glycol diacrylate, propylene glycol dimethacrylate, ethylene glycol diacrylate, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, ditrimethylolpropane tetraacrylate, ditrimethylolpropane tetramethacrylate, polyethylene glycol diacrylate, polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate, phthalic acid diethylene glycol diacrylate, pentaerythritol tetraacrylate, dipentaerythritol pentaacrylate, dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate, and ethoxylated multifunctional acrylate.

In the present invention, the metal cation may be various common metal ions, for example, Li⁺、Na⁺、K⁺And Ca²⁺、Mg²⁺、Ba²⁺And Zn²⁺At least one of (1).

The method for preparing the microspherical ionomer comprises the following steps:

(1) in an organic solvent, in the presence of an initiator, contacting maleic anhydride, a monomer B providing a structural unit B shown in a formula (2) and a crosslinking agent for reaction;

(2) mixing the product obtained in the step (1) with alkali and an amine compound to carry out ring-opening amination reaction in the presence of a dispersant.

As can be understood by those skilled in the art, maleic anhydride is a substance that provides the structural unit A represented by the formula (1) and the structural unit C represented by the formula (3). The monomer B is a substance which provides the structural unit B represented by the formula (2), and may be alpha-methylstyrene or styrene.

Step (1) may be carried out by the method described in CN101338008A or CN 109705251A.

In the step (1) of the present invention, the organic solvent may be any solvent commonly used in solution polymerization, for example, the organic solvent includes an organic acid alkyl ester, and may be used alone or in combination with an alkane or an aromatic hydrocarbon. Wherein the organic acid alkyl esters include, but are not limited to: at least one of methyl formate, ethyl formate, propyl formate, butyl formate, isobutyl formate, amyl formate, methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, propyl acetate, butyl acetate, isobutyl acetate, sec-butyl acetate, amyl acetate, isoamyl acetate, benzyl acetate, methyl propionate, ethyl propionate, butyl propionate, methyl butyrate, ethyl butyrate, butyl butyrate, isobutyl butyrate, isoamyl isovalerate, methyl benzoate, ethyl benzoate, propyl benzoate, butyl benzoate, isoamyl benzoate, methyl phenylacetate and ethyl phenylacetate, preferably, the organic acid alkyl ester is isoamyl acetate. Such alkanes include, but are not limited to: n-hexane and/or n-heptane. The aromatic hydrocarbons include, but are not limited to: at least one of benzene, toluene and xylene.

In step (1) of the present invention, the initiator may be a reagent commonly used in the art for initiating the polymerization reaction of maleic anhydride and α -methylstyrene (or styrene), and may be a thermal decomposition type initiator. Preferably, the initiator is at least one selected from the group consisting of dibenzoyl peroxide, dicumyl peroxide, di-t-butyl peroxide, lauroyl peroxide, t-butyl peroxybenzoate, diisopropyl peroxydicarbonate, dicyclohexyl peroxydicarbonate, azobisisobutyronitrile, and azobisisoheptonitrile.

Specific kinds of the crosslinking agent which can be used in the step (1) of the present invention are as described above.

In the step (1) of the present invention, the amount of each raw material used is not particularly limited, and the amount of the monomer B to be used is preferably 50 to 150mol, more preferably 75 to 100mol, based on 100mol of maleic anhydride.

Preferably, the crosslinking agent is used in an amount of 1 to 40mol, more preferably 10 to 30mol, and further preferably 15 to 20mol, relative to 100mol of maleic anhydride.

Preferably, the organic solvent is used in an amount of 50 to 150L, more preferably 75 to 100L, relative to 100mol of maleic anhydride.

Preferably, the initiator is used in an amount of 0.05 to 10mol, more preferably 1 to 1.5mol, relative to 100mol of maleic anhydride.

In step (1) of the present invention, the reaction conditions are not particularly limited, but preferably such that the degree of crosslinking of the ionomer is 55% or more, and preferably such that the degree of crosslinking of the ionomer is 65% or more. More preferably, in step (1), the reaction conditions include: an inert atmosphere, such as nitrogen or argon; the temperature is 50-90 ℃, and the more preferable temperature is 60-70 ℃; the time is 3 to 15 hours, more preferably 5 to 12 hours.

The step (2) of the present invention may be carried out by reacting the product obtained in the step (1) with a base and an amine-based compound in a mixed system of a dispersant.

In step (2) of the present invention, the base may be a basic substance (a basic substance capable of providing a metal cation (as described above)) conventionally used in the art. Preferably, the base is selected from at least one of a hydroxide of a metal and an acetate of a metal. The metal may be a monovalent metal or an equivalent of a divalent metal, such as a metal of group IA, group IIA and/or group IIB of the periodic Table of the elements (in particular lithium, sodium, potassium, calcium, barium, zinc and/or magnesium). More preferably, the base is selected from at least one of lithium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide, barium hydroxide, zinc hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, lithium acetate, sodium acetate, potassium acetate, calcium acetate, barium acetate, and zinc acetate.

In step (2) of the present invention, the base is used for ring opening in an amount such that the relative molar content of the structural unit a in the ionomer is controlled within a certain range, preferably within the range already described above. The inventor of the invention finds in research that although the ionomer prepared by using excessive alkali also has good PET modification performance, the ionomer prepared by using less alkali has better PET modification performance, and can further simplify the subsequent purification steps to achieve the effect of killing two birds with one stone. Therefore, it is preferable that the base is used in an amount of 5 to 100mol, more preferably 15 to 95mol, relative to 100mol of maleic anhydride.

In step (2) of the present invention, the use of the amine-based compound allows the introduction of amide groups into the ionomer. The amount of the amine-based compound used in the present invention is not particularly limited, and is preferably 50 to 500mol, more preferably 100 to 450mol, based on 100mol of maleic anhydride.

The amine-based compound may be a primary amine or a secondary amine conventionally used in the art as long as it can perform an amination reaction with the polymer obtained in step (1), and may be an alkylamine and/or an aromatic amine, and further, may be a linear alkylamine, a branched alkylamine, a cyclic alkylamine, an aromatic amine, or the like. Preferably, the alkyl group in the alkylamine is a substituted or unsubstituted C₁-C₂₀An alkyl group; the aromatic group in the aromatic amine is substituted or unsubstituted C₄-C₂₀An aromatic group; more preferably, the alkyl group in the alkylamine is a substituted or unsubstituted C₁-C₂₀Alkyl or substituted or unsubstituted C₃-C₂₀A cycloalkyl group; the aromatic group in the aromatic amine is substituted or unsubstituted C₄-C₁₆An aromatic group; the above-mentioned substituted group is preferably a halogen or a hydroxyl group; further preferably, the amine-based compound is selected fromAt least one of methylamine, ethylamine, diethylamine, n-propylamine, isopropylamine, tert-butylamine, n-butylamine, isobutylamine, n-pentylamine, cyclopentylamine, n-hexylamine, n-heptylamine, n-octylamine, 2-hydroxyethylamine, 2-methylbutylamine, 3-methylbutylamine, cyclohexylamine, n-nonylamine, isononylamine, decylamine, 2-propylheptylamine, 2-ethylhexylamine, dodecylamine, tetradecylamine, hexadecylamine, octadecylamine, aniline, benzylamine, 2-methyl-aniline, 3-methyl-aniline, 4-methyl-aniline, 3-chloroaniline, 4-aminopyridine, and naphthylamine.

In the step (2) of the present invention, the object of the present invention can be achieved by using a dispersant (poor solvent for the polymer) such that the reaction system is a heterogeneous system, that is, by selecting a liquid-phase dispersant in which the polymer is substantially insoluble. Preferably, the dispersant is selected from C₂-C₁₀Ether of (C)₅-C₈At least one of alkanes of (a); specifically, the dispersant is preferably at least one selected from the group consisting of diethyl ether, dipropyl ether, dibutyl ether, diisoamyl ether, methyl tert-butyl ether, diisopropyl ether, methyl isopropyl ether, petroleum ether, n-hexane and n-heptane.

According to the present invention, the dispersing agent may be used in an amount of 2 to 15mL, preferably 5 to 8mL, per gram of the product obtained in step (1), as long as the reaction raw material is dispersed so that the reaction is carried out in a heterogeneous system.

In step (2), the ring-opening amination reaction may be performed under conventional conditions, for example, the conditions of the ring-opening reaction include: the temperature is 20-150 ℃, preferably 30-100 ℃; the time is 0.5-8h, preferably 0.5-6 h.

In the invention, the ionomer can be obtained from the product obtained in the step (2) through a simple solid-liquid separation step without introducing other precipitation reagents (or solvents). The liquid phase obtained by solid-liquid separation can be reused in the step (1). The solid-liquid separation mode can be filtration, centrifugation and the like. The resulting solid phase may be further dried to obtain an ionomer product.

The present invention also provides microspheroidal ionomers made by the above-described process. The ionomer prepared by the invention has a cross-linked structure and is microspherical, and the molar ratio, the cross-linking degree, the average particle diameter and the like among all structural units are as described above, so that the details are not repeated.

In addition, the invention also provides application of the microspherical ionomer as a nucleating agent in modification of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). In actual use, the ionomers of the present invention can be melt blended with PET, which can be done in conventional blending equipment. The ionomer may be used in an amount of 0.5 to 5g with respect to 100g of PET. The temperature of the melt blending may be 250-300 ℃. The melt blending time may be 5-8 min. And extruding and granulating the product after melt blending to obtain the modified PET product.

The present invention will be further described with reference to the following examples, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to these examples.

In the following examples and comparative examples:

conditions of vacuum drying: the vacuum degree is-0.095 MPa at 100 ℃ and the time is 8 h.

Infrared spectrum analysis: measured by a Spectrum Two instrument from PerkinElmer company;

scanning electron microscope analysis: measured by an XL-30ESEM-FEG instrument of FEI Co.

Average particle size: selecting 300-500 microspheres from a scanning electron microscope picture, measuring the diameters of the microspheres, and calculating the average particle size of the microspheres by using a mathematical average method for determination;

the method for measuring the degree of crosslinking comprises the following steps: weighing 2-3g of polymer microspheres (w1), wrapping with medium speed qualitative filter paper, placing in a soxhlet extractor, extracting with tetrahydrofuran for 24h, dry weighing the resulting polymer residue (w2), and calculating the degree of crosslinking by w2/w 1:

example 1

(1) 100g of maleic anhydride, 118g of alpha-methylstyrene, 26g of divinylbenzene, and 2g of azobisisobutyronitrile were dissolved in 1000mL of isoamyl acetate and reacted at 70 ℃ for 5 hours under a nitrogen atmosphere. And centrifuging the reacted system for 30 minutes by a centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min to obtain the crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer microspheres, washing and purifying by normal hexane, and drying in vacuum. Meanwhile, the supernatant after the centrifugal separation was analyzed by LC-MC (liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry), the amount of the remaining monomer therein was measured, and the amount of the monomer (or the amount of the crosslinking agent) actually involved in the reaction was obtained by subtracting the amount of the remaining monomer (or the amount of the crosslinking agent) from the amount of the monomer (or the amount of the crosslinking agent) charged, thereby obtaining the molar ratio among the structural unit a, the structural unit B and the crosslinked structure, as specifically shown in table 1 below.

(2) 50g of crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer microspheres were added to 250mL of dispersant methyl t-butyl ether, and then 7.6g of sodium hydroxide (0.95 mol of base per mole of maleic anhydride) and 44.0g of n-butylamine (3.0 mol of amine per mole of maleic anhydride) were added and reacted at 50 ℃ for 5 hours. And centrifuging the reacted system for 30 minutes by a centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min, adding 300mL of ethanol into the obtained solid, stirring and washing, centrifuging by the centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min for 30 minutes, adding 300mL of methyl tert-butyl ether into the obtained solid, stirring and washing, centrifuging by the centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min for 30 minutes, and drying the obtained solid in vacuum to obtain the crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/N-butyl-maleic amide sodium salt ionomer microsphere (named as C1).

Example 2

(1) 100g of maleic anhydride, 118g of alpha-methylstyrene, 26g of divinylbenzene, and 2g of azobisisobutyronitrile were dissolved in 1000mL of isoamyl acetate and reacted at 70 ℃ for 5 hours under a nitrogen atmosphere. Centrifuging the reacted system for 30 minutes by a centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min to obtain crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer microspheres, washing and purifying by methanol, and drying in vacuum; the structural features are shown in table 1 below.

(2) 50g of crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer microspheres were added to 400mL of dispersant n-heptane, followed by 6.2g of potassium hydroxide (0.55 mol of base per mole of maleic anhydride) and 83.8g of aniline (4.5 mol of amine per mole of maleic anhydride), and reacted at 80 ℃ for 2.5 hours. And centrifuging the reacted system for 30 minutes by a centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min, adding 300mL of ethanol into the obtained solid, stirring and washing, centrifuging by the centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min for 30 minutes, adding 300mL of N-heptane into the obtained solid, stirring and washing, centrifuging by the centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min for 30 minutes, and drying the obtained solid in vacuum to obtain the crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/N-phenyl-maleamide potassium salt ionomer microsphere (named as C2).

Example 3

(1) 130g of maleic anhydride, 104g of styrene, 26g of divinylbenzene and 2.5g of azobisisobutyronitrile were dissolved in 1000mL of isoamyl acetate and reacted at 60 ℃ for 10 hours under a nitrogen atmosphere. Centrifuging the reacted system for 30 minutes by a centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min to obtain crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer microspheres, washing and purifying by methanol, and drying in vacuum; the structural features are shown in table 1 below.

(2) 50g of the crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer microspheres are added into 350mL of dispersant n-hexane, and then 3.6g of sodium hydroxide (the amount of the base is 0.45mol per mol of maleic anhydride) and 22.0g of 2-hydroxyethylamine (the amount of the amine is 1.7mol per mol of maleic anhydride) are added, and the mixture is reacted at 30 ℃ for 7 hours. And centrifuging the reacted system for 30 minutes by a centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min, adding 400mL of ethanol into the obtained solid, stirring and washing, centrifuging by the centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min for 30 minutes, adding 500mL of methyl tert-butyl ether into the obtained solid, stirring and washing, centrifuging by the centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min for 30 minutes, and drying the obtained solid in vacuum to obtain the crosslinked styrene/N-2-hydroxyethyl-maleic amide sodium salt ionomer microsphere (named as C3).

Example 4

(1) 130g of maleic anhydride, 118g of alpha-methylstyrene, 10g of divinylbenzene and 2.5g of azobisisobutyronitrile were dissolved in 1000mL of isoamyl acetate and reacted at 60 ℃ for 10 hours under a nitrogen atmosphere. Centrifuging the reacted system for 30 minutes by a centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min to obtain crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer microspheres, washing and purifying by methanol, and drying in vacuum; the structural features are shown in table 1 below.

(2) 50g of crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer microspheres were added to 400mL of dispersant ether, and then 9.9g of sodium hydroxide (1 mol of base per mol of maleic anhydride) and 46.6g of 4-aminopyridine (2.0 mol of amine per mol of maleic anhydride) were added, followed by reaction at 30 ℃ for 8 hours. And centrifuging the reacted system for 30 minutes by a centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min, adding 800mL of ethanol into the obtained solid, stirring and washing, centrifuging by the centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min for 30 minutes, adding 500mL of methyl tert-butyl ether into the obtained solid, stirring and washing, centrifuging by the centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min for 30 minutes, and drying the obtained solid in vacuum to obtain the crosslinked styrene/N-pyridyl-maleamide sodium salt ionomer microsphere (called C4).

Comparative example 1

(1) 98g of maleic anhydride and 118g of alpha-methylstyrene are weighed and placed in a three-neck flask provided with a nitrogen inlet pipe, a stirrer, a thermometer, a condenser and a reflux condenser, 2g of azobisisobutyronitrile is added as an initiator, a proper amount of toluene is added as a reaction solvent, and the reaction is carried out for 5 hours at 70 ℃ under the nitrogen atmosphere. And after the reaction, carrying out suction filtration on the polymer, washing a filter cake for 3 times by using methylbenzene, and carrying out vacuum drying to obtain the alpha-methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer.

(2) 20.2g of an α -methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer was dissolved in 200mL of 1, 4-dioxane, and 4g of a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide was added to the solution to react at room temperature for 3 hours. After the reaction, the ionomer solid was obtained by filtration. The resulting solid was dried in vacuo to give an alpha-methylstyrene/maleic acid sodium salt ionomer (designated as E1).

Comparative example 2

(1) 100g of maleic anhydride, 118g of alpha-methylstyrene, 26g of divinylbenzene, and 2g of azobisisobutyronitrile were dissolved in 1000mL of isoamyl acetate and reacted at 70 ℃ for 5 hours under a nitrogen atmosphere. And centrifuging the reacted system for 30 minutes by a centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min to obtain the crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer microspheres, washing and purifying by normal hexane, and drying in vacuum. The structural features are shown in table 1 below.

(2) 15.2g of sodium hydroxide was dissolved in 350mL of water, and 50g of crosslinked α -methylstyrene/maleic anhydride polymer microspheres were added to an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution (1.9 mol of a base per mol of maleic anhydride) and reacted at 100 ℃ for 3 hours. And centrifuging the reacted system for 30 minutes by a centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min, adding 400mL of water into the solid, stirring and washing the solid, centrifuging and separating for 30 minutes by the centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min, adding 500mL of methanol into the solid, stirring and washing the solid, centrifuging and separating for 30 minutes by the centrifuge under the condition of 5000rad/min, and drying the solid in vacuum to obtain the crosslinked alpha-methylstyrene/sodium maleate ionomer microsphere (called E2).

Test example S1

(1) The IR spectra of the polymers obtained in example 1 and comparative example 1 are shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, respectively, and the successful synthesis of the ionomer is shown from the IR spectra, and the IR spectra of examples 2 to 3 are similar to that of example 1.

(2) The ionomer microspheres prepared in the above examples and comparative examples were subjected to X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to determine the metal cation content in the ionomer, i.e., the percentage of the structural unit a to the total molar amount of the structural units a and C in the ionomer.

(3) The ionomers prepared in the above examples and comparative examples were subjected to scanning electron microscopy, wherein the scanning electron microscopy of the ionomer obtained in example 1 is shown in fig. 2, and it can be seen that the ionomer of the present invention is microspherical; whereas the ionomer obtained in comparative example 1 does not have a microsphere structure. The average particle size and the degree of crosslinking of the measured ionomer microspheres are shown in table 1 below.

TABLE 1

(4) The ionomer microspheres prepared in the above examples and comparative examples were respectively and uniformly mixed with PET (purchased from chemical fiber company of petrochemical industry, china, under the trademark: BG80), wherein the addition amount of the ionomer microspheres was 1 wt% based on the weight of PET, and then melt-blended at 280 ℃ for 8 minutes, and extruded for granulation, to obtain modified polyethylene terephthalate.

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was performed on the modified PET, using unmodified PET as a control, under the following test conditions: heating for the first time, starting from 50 ℃, keeping the temperature for 1min, then heating to 280 ℃ at the speed of 10 ℃/min, and keeping the temperature for 3 min; then, cooling to 50 ℃ at the speed of 10 ℃/min, and keeping the temperature for 1 min; the temperature is raised for the second time from 50 ℃ to 280 ℃ at the speed of 10 ℃/min. The results are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2

The results in table 2 show that the ionomer of the present invention has a significantly better nucleation effect on PET than the comparative example, and can significantly increase the crystallization temperature of PET and accelerate the crystallization rate.

As can be seen by comparing examples 1-4 with comparative example 2, the ionomers of the present invention have a superior nucleating effect on PET compared to the only salted ionomer E2.

Test examples 1 to 4

According to the formula shown in Table 3 (all weight parts), 100 weight parts of PET polyester chips, 0.5-3.0 weight parts of crosslinked ionomer microspheres C1, processing aids (antioxidant 1010 and antioxidant 168 with the weight ratio of 1: 1) and 0.03 weight part of lubricant are put into a high-speed stirrer to be uniformly stirred, and are extruded at the temperature of 250-255-265 ℃ by utilizing WP ZSK25 twin-screw; adding a long strand of glass fiber into a double-screw feeding port; adding 8-18 parts by weight of nitrogen and phosphorus flame retardant (HT202A, Jinan Thailand Co.) in a lateral feeding manner, extruding, cooling and granulating, drying for 4-6 hours in an oven at the temperature of about 100 ℃, injecting into a standard sample at the temperature of 250-.

GB/T1040-1992 dumbbell-shaped standard bars were obtained by injection using a 300 g injection machine (manufactured by Ningbo Haitian Co., Ltd.) and the tensile strength and elongation at break of the bars were determined by the GB/T1040-1992 Plastic tensile Property test method.

A standard sample bar having dimensions of 80 mm (length) x 10 mm (width) x 4 mm (thickness) was obtained by injection using a 300 g injection machine (manufactured by Ningbo Haitian Co., Ltd.), and the flexural strength and flexural modulus of the standard sample bar were measured by the GB/T9341-2008 plastic flexural property test method.

A standard sample strip with the size of 80 mm (length) multiplied by 10 mm (width) multiplied by 4 mm (thickness) and the gap of 2mm is obtained by injection of a 300 g injection machine (manufactured by Ningbo Haitian company) and the impact strength of the simply supported beam gap of the standard sample strip is measured by a measuring method of GB/T1043-93 plastic cantilever beam impact strength.

Deformation conditions are as follows: two injection-molded sample squares (60 mm. times.60 mm. times.2 mm) were taken, one of which was placed in an oven at 120 ℃ for 3 hours and the other was placed at normal temperature, and deformation of the samples was observed, and the symbol "good" indicates that no deformation was observed as compared with the samples placed at normal temperature, and "x" indicates that significant deformation was observed as compared with the samples placed at normal temperature.

The results of the performance tests are shown in table 4.

Test examples 5 to 7

An experiment was conducted in the same manner as in test example 1 except that the ionomer microsphere C1 was replaced with C2-C4 prepared in examples 2-4, and the results of the performance test were shown in Table 4.

Comparative test examples 1 to 4

The experiment was carried out in the same manner as in test example 1 except that no ionomeric microspheres were used, the specific formulation is shown in Table 3, and the results of the performance tests are shown in Table 4.

Comparative test examples 5 to 6

An experiment was conducted in the same manner as in test example 1 except that the ionomer microsphere C1 was replaced with E1 and E2 prepared in comparative examples 1-2, and the results of the performance test were shown in table 4.

TABLE 3

TABLE 4

As can be seen from table 4, the injection molded article of the blend of microspherical ionomer and PET of the present invention has superior mechanical properties and high stability, compared to the prior art blend of ionomer and PET salted in an aqueous system. In particular, better tensile strength. Therefore, the method has higher application value in scenes requiring high tensile strength.

Having described embodiments of the present invention, the foregoing description is intended to be exemplary, not exhaustive, and not limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments.

The endpoints of the ranges and any values disclosed herein are not limited to the precise range or value, and such ranges or values should be understood to encompass values close to those ranges or values. For ranges of values, between the endpoints of each of the ranges and the individual points, and between the individual points may be combined with each other to give one or more new ranges of values, and these ranges of values should be considered as specifically disclosed herein.