Equilibrium Molecular Weight Distribution of Cyclic and Linear Methylsiloxanes
Abstract Data are reported for the equilibrium molecular size distributions of cyclic and linear methylsiloxanes in five polymers with number average molecular weights ranging from 459 to 1348. The distributions of linear species agree with the earlier work of Scott and agree reasonably well with the Flory theory of random reorganization. The amounts of cyclic molecules are sharply dependent on molecular weight. However, the equilibrium constants for cyclic formation for cyclic species with four to eight units are shown to be virtually identical with the equilibrium constants for cyclic formation in high molecular weight polymers reported in a previous publication. For octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, Kav in moles of siloxane units per liter was found to be 0.72 in this study. For high polymers, Kav was previously reported to be 0.74.