Apparatus for Synthesis of Multiple Cyclic Polymers

摘要

The apparatus shown on the cover was designed and photographed by Kurt A. Alberty for Professor Thieo Hogen-Esch at the University of Southern California. Construction of the apparatus was done by Jim Merritt.This apparatus is used for the same chemical synthesis as the one featured on the August 1999 cover. The key difference this time is that one can do three times the work that was done before. In the previous version, styrene or another suitable vinyl monomer was first polymerized anionically and then cyclized with a coupling/cyclizing agent. At the end of the synthesis, one is left with two samples: a linear precursor polymer and a sample containing a large percentage of cyclic polymer product. This new version of the apparatus allows for three different coupling/cyclizing agents to be used instead of only one.