Studies of the Vulcanization of High Elastic Polymers. III. Vulcanization of Natural Rubber with Thiuram Disulfides. Part 3
Abstract The present paper, which relates again to the problem of the kinetics of thiuram vulcanization, has led to the following results : 1. The velocity constants kTD of the interaction of tetramethyl-, tetraethyl-, and tetrapropylthiuram disulfides with natural rubber, which proceeds according to a first-order reaction, are linear functions of the reciprocal of the absolute temperature. This is true also of the velocity constants kDC of the dithiocarbamate formation. 2. The activation energies of both reactions are independent of the particular chemical constitution of the thiuram disulfide involved. 3. The different thiuram disulfides vary with respect to their reaction with rubber only by the steric factor. 4. The reaction mechanism of thiuram vulcanization has been discussed in the light of the results of the kinetic investigation. These studies are being continued.