P-22 Simultaneous Hydroxyl Number Determination and Moisture Analysis of Highly Functional Polyols using NIR Spectroscopy

Buller Hallway

Highly functional polymers, including hyperbranched polymers and dendrimers, are an emerging class of additives for a variety of industries such as the paints and coatings, plastics, adhesives, inks, and personal care products. The outer functional group density determines how these highly branched materials will perform and enhance the properties of consumer products. Traditional electrochemical titration methods provide an indirect method for determining the concentration of hydroxyl functional group per gram of material, and these methods are well known but challenging for highly branched polymers. Near Infrared spectroscopy provides a promising alternative that directly and nondestructively measures the concentration of hydroxyl functional groups in a dendritic polymer sample without chemically modifying the sample. This method can be adapted for the simultaneous determination of hydroxyl number and water content thus providing quality control information for formulators and manufacturers in the use of dendritic polymers for commercial products. NIR spectroscopy is simple, direct, and does not require the time and sample preparation of hydroxyl number titrations. This poster will show how NIR spectroscopy can be performed on highly functional polymers samples and how these values compare to theoretical and measured values of hydroxyl number and moisture content.