Sciencemadness Discussion Board

synthesis of Poly(methyl methacrylate)

nikotyna1939 - 18-3-2019 at 20:12

can anybody show me the synthesis of Poly(methyl methacrylate)
i just want to know what is the easiest route to synthesize acrylic glass

Sulaiman - 18-3-2019 at 21:00

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MOULDCRAFT-250g-WATER-CLEAR-CASTI...

SWIM - 19-3-2019 at 00:21

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman  
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MOULDCRAFT-250g-WATER-CLEAR-CASTI...


Nice synthesis.

I'm going down to McDonald's now to synthesize a hamburger.




Sulaiman - 19-3-2019 at 02:19

Check the posts of nikotyna1939 and you will appreciate my answer,
but you are correct, I was too terse with my answer,
I look forward to reading SWIMs guidance of nikotyna1939 to synthesise PMMA at home ... should be entertaining...

Dr.Bob - 21-3-2019 at 17:44

If you depolymerize some acrylic by distilling the methyl methacrylate, and then pour it into a mold, it will eventually harden on its own into a nice clear solid, as it will not have any inhibitors present. Otherwise a trace of benzoyl peroxide will work, maybe even the material from acne cream would work, or you could treat the monomer with it and then decant the liquid off to remove the cream.

But any free radical source will work, hard UV lamps, ozone, peroxides, leftists, azos, or some tin salts.

Heptylene - 22-3-2019 at 14:55

Quote: Originally posted by Dr.Bob  

But any free radical source will work, hard UV lamps, ozone, peroxides, leftists, azos, or some tin salts.


Is this an attempt to initiate a political argument? ;)

More seriously, have you heard of any attempt at distilling MMA from PMMA? I know styrene can be easily obtained from polystyrene and this has been documented previously.

Dr.Bob - 24-3-2019 at 17:46

It was a pretty bad joke, only beat by yours... A

nd I distilled MMA from PMMA back in the 1980's and then repolymerizied it. I did not have any peroxides so I just lt it sit for a week or so, and it eventually hardened. I think the experiment was right out of an organic books from the 70's. I grew up in the 70's and remember the original radicals left over from Woodstock, but sadly was too young to go there. But it is a great way to get monomer for making acrylic.

[Edited on 25-3-2019 by Dr.Bob]

zed - 26-3-2019 at 17:02

Ummm. I'll check my old chem texts. I'll try to provide a reference. Seems to me it was a common experiment, back in the 60s or 70s.

Now of course, when someone has challenged me regarding the process, the required book lies lost somewhere in my storage catacombs.

Might be "Laboratory Experiments in Organic Chemistry" by Adams.

I once had alternate synthetic uses of Methyl Methacrylate.

https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=14...



[Edited on 27-3-2019 by zed]

[Edited on 27-3-2019 by zed]