Chemical Depolymerisation of Natural Rubber in Biphasic Medium

Abstract

The molecular weight of natural rubber (NR) can be reduced via depolymerization reaction to produce liquid natural rubber (LNR) with a molecular weight less than 50 000 g/mol. In the reaction, hydrogen peroxide and sodium nitrite were added to natural rubber latex to initiate a redox type reaction which then breaks the NR chain. Low permeation of reagents into latex particles allows the degradation to occur greater at the latex particle surface relative to the inner core contributes to high molecular weight distribution (MWD) or polydispersity of the LNR obtained. In this recent works, the reaction was carried out in a biphasic medium consisting of water and toluene phases. Toluene swells latex particles as indicated by the SEM micrographs showing changes in the size of latex particles. This occurrence is suggested to increase the influx of reagents into the latex particles. Consequently, with higher permeation of reagents into the latex particles resulted in the decrease of molecular weight and lower polydispersity of the LNR obtained. Chemical structure analysize showed that the LNRs obtained were attached with hydroxyl and carbonyl groups.