Acceleration of Form II-I Transition in Polybutene-1 by H-shape Long-chain Branching: Critical Role of 1,9-Decadiene as Branching Agent and Synergy with Comonomer

Hui-Ping Yu; Jin-Yong Dong

doi:10.1007/s10118-025-3456-x

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Acceleration of Form II-I Transition in Polybutene-1 by H-shape Long-chain Branching: Critical Role of 1,9-Decadiene as Branching Agent and Synergy with Comonomer

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2025-12-03

- Acceleration of Form II-I Transition in Polybutene-1 by H-shape Long-chain Branching: Critical Role of 1,9-Decadiene as Branching Agent and Synergy with Comonomer
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 43, Issue 12, Pages: 2362-2372(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.CAS Key Laboratory of Engineering Plastics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  b.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Author bio：
  
  jydong@iccas.ac.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3456-x
  CLC：
- Received：08 July 2025，
  
  Accepted：18 September 2025，
  
  Online First：12 November 2025，
  
  Published：15 December 2025
- Accepted：
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Yu, H. P.; Dong, J. Y. Acceleration of Form II-I transition in polybutene-1 by H-shape long-chain branching: critical role of 1,9-decadiene as branching agent and synergy with comonomer. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 2362–2372

Hui-Ping Yu, Jin-Yong Dong. Acceleration of Form II-I Transition in Polybutene-1 by H-shape Long-chain Branching: Critical Role of 1,9-Decadiene as Branching Agent and Synergy with Comonomer[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(12): 2362-2372.
Yu, H. P.; Dong, J. Y. Acceleration of Form II-I transition in polybutene-1 by H-shape long-chain branching: critical role of 1,9-decadiene as branching agent and synergy with comonomer. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 2362–2372 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3456-x.

Hui-Ping Yu, Jin-Yong Dong. Acceleration of Form II-I Transition in Polybutene-1 by H-shape Long-chain Branching: Critical Role of 1,9-Decadiene as Branching Agent and Synergy with Comonomer[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(12): 2362-2372. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3456-x.

摘要

Using 1

9-decadiene as long-chain branching (LCB) reagent

H-shaped LCB structures were introduced into polybutene-1 (

-PB)

1-butene/propylene copolymers (B/P copolymers)

and 1-butene/ethylene copolymers (B/E copolymers). The results reveal that H-shaped LCB structures generated from 1

9-decadiene

possesses the capacity to accelerate the Form II-I transformation. Nevertheless

the competitive interplay between the transition-promoting influence of LCB and the transition-retarding influence arising from the long alkyl substituents leads to an inhibiting effect on the Form II-I transition in the 1-butene/ethylene copolymerization system.

Abstract

Polybutene-1 (PB-1) is a semi-crystalline polymer with excellent mechanical properties. However

its practical application is significantly hindered by the slow Form II-I transition

which can take up to several days to complete. While prior research established that long-chain branching (LCB) structures synthesized

via

-alkenylmethyldichlorosilane copolymerization-hydrolysis (ACH) chemistry markedly accelerate this transition

this work demonstrates that H-shaped LCB structures constructed through copolymerization with 1

9-decadiene exhibit the capability to facilitate Form II-I transition in most systems evaluated herein. However

low branching efficiency concurrently generates extended alkyl pendant chains

which impose pronounced steric-hindrance-driven suppression on the transition kinetics

thereby substantially diminishing the net acceleration effect of the LCB structures

even resulting in a net retardation effect in certain systems. Notably

a significant synergistic acceleration effect emerged between the H-shaped LCB structures and propylene comonomer units. These findings confirm that the H-shaped LCB structures play a role in promoting the Form II-I transformation process

which is independent of the synthetic pathways

thereby providing more strategies for addressing the long-standing processing problems of PB-1.

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