Fractionation of Rubber

Latex rubber which has been purified to the point at which it contains an insignificant amount of nitrogen can be separated by fractional dissolution in a mixture of petroleum and acetone into a series of hydrocarbon fractions of decreasing solubility and increasing molecular magnitude. All these fractions except the highest are soluble in petroleum and in benzene. Crepe rubber, on the other hand, appears invariably to contain a small, most-soluble fraction of oxygenated rubber, and a small similar quite insoluble fraction of material of high molecular weight. Between these extremes the rubber can be divided into fractions of increasing molecular weight, although, up to the present, about 70 per cent of the total rubber has appeared in a single fraction. It may be possible later, by judicious choice of another pair of solvents, to resolve this major fraction into a series of subfractions. Kemp and Peters refer to the effect of polar nonsolvents in reducing the viscosity of rubber solutions and also in assisting to bring gel rubber into solution, phenomena to which the polar molecules conceivably contribute by countering the forces of association between the rubber molecules. The present series of fractionations was conducted throughout in the presence of a polar nonsolvent (acetone), and hence may be considered to approach towards a separation of true rubber molecules as distinct from molecular aggregates. It is found, however, that, whereas the more soluble fractions of acetone-extracted crepe rubber contain small proportions of nitrogen, the least soluble fractions contain substantial proportions. Any effect which the nitrogenous material may have in assisting to link together hydrocarbon molecules to which it is attached, i. e., in contributing to the high-molecular condition of a portion of natural rubber, remains at present uncertain in character. The fractions of rubber, and especially the higher ones, show a strong tendency to become insoluble when they have once been freed from the last traces of solvent. It seems doubtful whether the decreased solubility is due to oxygen as it would require to be effective at exceedingly low concentrations.