New “Green” Route for Catalytic Latex Hydrogenation

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. 1 H 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.