MODENS® for styrene Butadiene copolymers, explore SEQENS’s expertise of Williamson Ether Synthesis
With more than 50 years of experience in up-scaling and custom manufacturing of small molecules and polymers, SEQENS Advanced Specialties offering a continuum of expertise from the laboratory to industrial scale.
Custom solutions and ingredients
SEQENS Advanced Specialties develops custom solutions and ingredients for the most demanding industries such as electronics aerospace, cosmetics, automotive, construction and paints and inks.
Thanks to an extensive experience through partnerships with leading companies, SEQENS Advanced Specialties is a European reference in industrialization of high value-added custom materials, granting reactivity, flexibility and reliability.
a strong expertise in alkylation processes
Over the years SEQENS Advanced Specialties acquired a strong expertise in alkylation processes. Friedel Crafts alkylation and Williamson Ether Synthesis being two well-known processes that can be used to add an alkyl group to an organic molecule.
Williamson Ether Synthesis enables the preparation of a wide variety of asymmetric ethers. An alcohol is transformed into an ether by replacement of the alcoholic proton by an alkyl group. Typically, the alcohol is deprotonated with a base, such as sodium hydroxide, and the resulting alkoxide ion reacts with an alkyl halide to form the ether product and the by-product sodium halide salt.
Some ethers such as 1,2-diethoxypropane, Ethyl tetrahydrofurfuryl ether, Diethyl ether or Tetrahydrofuran have been identified to be used as polar modifiers during the anionic polymerization of styrenic block copolymers.
a range of polar modifiers
In this context, SEQENS offers a range of polar modifiers, MODENS®, enabling the production of styrenic block copolymers with enhanced properties used in various applications such as high performances tires production, asphalt paving modification, sealants, adhesives and medical devices.
MODENS® polar modifiers are especially used for SBS (Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene) and s-SBR (solution Styrene-Butadiene synthetic Rubber) polymerization.
MODENS® BS and MODENS® BR products being ethers, respectively 1,2-diethoxypropane and Ethyl tetrahydrofurfuryl ether, can be obtained through Williamson Ether Synthesis.
MODENS® polar modifiers, MODENS® BR and MODENS® BS allow:
- A random incorporation of styrene to get the requested elastomeric performance characteristic
- To control the molecular weight distribution
- Microstructure modification with a high vinyl content to increase Tg, glass transition temperature, of polymer for an excellent balance of handling, wed skid, traction and rolling resistance properties
of block copolymers
SEQENS Advanced Specialties can handle raw materials such as alcohols, phenols, alkyl halides and aryl halides used for Williamson ether synthesis.
Our MODENS® ingredients are manufactured in France in Ecovadis Gold Certified production sites and are available at the highest levels of purity and low water content, often required as part of the ethers’ specifications.
Our expertise in the manufacturing of advanced specialty ingredients goes beyond the MODENS® range. Key organic synthesis reactions such as Friedel Craft, Organometallic & coupling reactions, esterification, hydrogenation, halogenation, polymerization and phosphonation are performed in routine in our plants and can be made available for the quality manufacturing of your strategic ingredients. A resilient supply chain, regulatory expertise, process safety management, analytical methods development and validation complete SEQENS’ personalized offer.
Find out how SEQENS Advanced Specialties and our MODENS® range can make you succeed: contact-us!