Low- and high-conversion studies of the free radical copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate with styrene in N,N′-dimethylformamide solution

✍ Scribed by Manuel Sánchez-Chaves; Gerardo Martínez; Enrique López Madruga

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 153 KB
• Volume: 37
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0887-624X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0518(19990801)37:15<2941::aid-pola27>3.0.co;2-m

✦ Synopsis

2-Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and styrene (S) have been copolymerized in a 3 mol ⅐ L Ϫ1 N,NЈ-dimethylformamide (DMF) solution using 2,2Јazobis (isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) as an initiator over a wide composition and conversion range. From low-conversion experiments and 1 H-NMR analysis, the monomer reactivity ratios were determined according to the Mayo-Lewis terminal model. The comparison of the obtained results with those previously reported for copolymerization in bulk and in toluene reveals a relatively small but noticeable solvent effect that can be qualitatively explained by the bootstrap model. Cumulative copolymer composition as a function of conversion is satisfactorily described by the integrated Mayo-Lewis equation; overall copolymerization rate increases with increasing the HEMA/S ratio, and individual monomer conversion is closely related to the monomer molar fraction in the feed.