Abstract
Linalool (LIN) and vinyl acetate (VA) were copolymerized by benzoyl peroxide (BPO) in pโxylene at 60ยฐC for 90 min. The system follows nonideal kinetics: R~p~ฮฑ[I]^0.6^[LIN]^1.2^[VA]^1.1^. It results in the formation of alternating copolymer as evidenced from reactivity ratios as r~1~ (VA) = 0.01, r~2~ (LIN) = 0.0015, which have been calculated by KelenโTudos method. The overall activation energy is 82 kJ/mol. The FTIR spectrum of the copolymer shows the presence of the band at 3425 cm^โ1^ due to alcoholic group of LIN and at 1641 cm^โ1^ due to >C๏ฃพO group of VA. The ^1^HโNMR spectrum shows peaks at 7.0โ7.7 ฮด due to hydroxy proton of LIN and at 1.0โ1.4 ฮด due to acetoxy protons of VA. ^13^CโNMR spectrum of copolymer shows peaks at 167 ppm due to acetoxy group and at 75โ77 ppm due to C๏ฃฟOH group. The AlfreyโPrice Qโe parameters for LIN has been calculated as Q~2~ = 1.24 and e~2~ = 3.11. The copolymer is highly thermally stable and has a glass transition temperature (T~g~) of 85ยฐC, evaluated from DSC studies. The mechanism of copolymerization has been elucidated. This article also reports measurement of MarkโHouwink constants in THF at 25ยฐC by means of GPC as ฮฑ = 0.8 and K = 3.0 ร 10^โ4^ dl/g. The thermal decompositions of copolymer are established with the help of TGA technique. ยฉ 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 1134โ1143, 2004