New “Green” Route for Catalytic Latex Hydrogenation

Abstract

Nowadays, catalytic latex hydrogenation appears to be the pursuit of industry. A catalyst predispersion method was employed to improve the hydrogenation rate. The mechanism of the ligand Triphenylphosphine (TPP) in the delivery of the catalyst molecules into the polymer particles was explored. 1H NMR was used to monitor the hydrogenation conversion versus reaction time. The spectroscopic analysis suggests that a higher conversion of more than 95 mol% can be reached. It was found that this predispersion technique was able to remarkably increase the catalysis efficiency during the course of hydrogenation.