Efficient Tool for Polymer Screening

Vortex Overhead Stirring Systems from Asynt Ltd. have helped Parogle Technologies (Liverpool, UK) improve the efficiency with which they synthesize novel dendritic vinyl polymers using solution or emulsion free radical polymerization reactions.

Parogle Technologies, formerly Hydra Polymers Ltd., was formed in 2007 as a spin-off from Unilever plc. to provide products derived from dendritic vinyl polymer technology including methacrylic, styrenic and polyurethane systems. Parogle Technologies exploit the structure and novel 3D shape of their polymers to provide products with superior properties in a wide variety of applications from paints and lubricants to pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

Dr Roz Baudry, Senior R&D Chemist at Parogle commented "A magnetic stirrer is fine to make organic molecules, but most of our polymer solutions are too viscous and require using an overhead stirring system”. She added “We evaluated a range of commercially available multiple position stirred reaction systems before selecting the Asynt Vortex as it incorporated a powerful overhead stirrer and did not require any exotic glassware. Our Vortex systems are used to synthesize branched, grafted or linear polymers in batch or semi-batch processes. They have proven to be very efficient tools for synthesizing compounds for polymer screening. We particularly like that the Vortex is very easy to set-up, use and has proven very robust even with the extensive workload at Parogle Technologies".

The Asynt Vortex overhead stirrer system allows three reactions to be stirred simultaneously using a single overhead stirrer and heated to temperatures up to 200C. The ability to perform multiple reactions in parallel enables the Vortex to improve efficiency. The compact Vortex overhead stirrer system is designed to agitate even the most viscous solutions and can be placed on any hotplate stirrer to heat reactions.