Polymer-Additive Extraction via Pressurized Fluids and Organic Solvents of Variously Cross-Linked Poly(methylmethacrylates)

Variously cross-linked poly(methylmethacrylates) (PMMAs) are synthesized with three additives incorporated at theoretically 1000 µg of the additive per gram of prepared polymer. The additives are Irganox 1010, Irganox 1076, and Irgafos 168. The “in-house” synthesized polyacrylates are then subjected to supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) to determine if additive recovery is a function of percent cross-linking. Although considerable work in this regard has been performed with non-cross-linked polyolefins, the literature is lacking regarding polyacrylates. Some additive degradation apparently occurs during the synthesis, as judged by the increased complexity of the extract high-performance liquid chromatographic trace and the low percent recoveries observed especially for the Irganoxes. For low polymer cross-linking (1%), it appears that both PMMA synthetic reproducibility and readily observed polymer swelling during SFE are serious issues that adversely affect additive percent recovery and precision of results. Higher percent crosslinking yields more consistent analytical data than low percent cross-linking, even though the amount of additive extracted in all PMMA samples (regardless of cross-linking percentage) is essentially the same whether the extraction is via SFE or liquid-solid extraction with methylene chloride. Results for comparably cross-linked poly(ethylmethacrylate) and poly(butylmethacrylate) are similar to PMMA.