Answer 4:
A monomer, such as methylcyanoacrylate (the
substance in super glue), with two electron
-withdrawing substituents can be polymerized with
very mild nucleophiles such as Br, CN, amines or
OH. The monomer polymerizes on contact with many
surfaces. Most often it is initialized by the
presence of water (the OH ions from water). If you
have sodium bicarbonte present, traces of water
(from the surface or air) will react and make
NaOH. The reaction is the
following:
NaHCO3 + H2O
-----> NaOH + H2CO3NaOH
is a
very good starter of the polymerization reaction.
It will make the reaction go very fast. Since this
is an exothermic reaction (energy gets released)
the H2CO3 will break up into
H2O and CO2 . The water will
evaporate and that should be the fume you have
noticed. You should also see the
CO2. This is my guess on what is
happening. Click Here to return to the search form.
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