Synthesis and characterization of copolymers of bromoacrylated methyl oleate

In this study, methyl oleate was bromoacrylated in the presence of N‐bromosuccinimide and acrylic acid in one step. Homopolymers and copolymers of bromoacrylated methyl oleate (BAMO) were synthesized by free radical bulk polymerization and photopolymerization techniques. Azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) and 2,2‐dimethoxy‐2‐phenyl‐acetophenone were used as initiators. The new monomer BAMO was characterized by FTIR, GC‐MS, ¹H, and ¹³C‐NMR spectroscopy. Styrene (STY), methylmethacrylate (MMA), and vinyl acetate (VA) were used for copolymerization. The polymers synthesized were characterized by FTIR, ¹H‐NMR, ¹³C‐NMR, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Molecular weight and polydispersities of the copolymers were determined by GPC analysis. Ten different feed ratios of the monomers STY and BAMO were used for the calculation of reactivity ratios. The reactivity ratios were determined by the Fineman–Ross and Kelen–Tudos methods using ¹H‐NMR spectroscopic data. The reactivity ratios were found to be r_sty = 0.891 (Fineman–Ross method), 0.859 (Kelen–Tudos method); r_bamo = 0.671 (Fineman–Ross method), 0.524 (Kelen–Tudos method). © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 94: 2475–2488, 2004     

Photocrosslinkable copolymers based on 4‐acryloyloxyphenyl‐3′‐chlorostyryl ketone and methyl methacrylate: synthesis,comonomer reactivity ratios and UV photosensitivity

A new photosensitive acrylate monomer having a pendant chlorocinnamoyl moiety (APCSK) was copolymerized with methyl methacrylate (MMA) in different feed compositions in ethyl acetate solution at 70°C using benzoyl peroxide as a free‐radical initiator. The newly synthesized copolymers were characterized by FTIR, ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectral techniques, as well as by size‐exclusion chromatography. Their thermal behaviour was assessed by thermogravimetric analysis in air and differential scanning calorimetry under nitrogen atmosphere. The copolymers exhibit no phase separation since there is only one glass transition temperature (T_g) value in the region of copolymer composition studied. The reactivity ratios of the comonomers were calculated by adopting linearization methods such as the Fineman–Ross (F‐R), Kelen–Tudos (K‐T) and extended Kelen–Tudos (ExtK‐T) methods, and by a non‐linear error‐in‐variables model method (EVM) using a computer program (RREVM). The results suggest that MMA is more reactive than APCSK and that their copolymerization leads to the formation of random copolymers. The photosensitivity of the copolymer samples was studied in solution as well as in thin films through UV irradiation. The influence of different factors, including solvent nature, concentration, temperature, photosensitizer and copolymer composition, on the rate of photocrosslinking of the photoreactive copolymers was investigated for effective industrial application of these polymers as negative photoresists. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

4‐Acetamidophenyl acrylate copolymers with acrylonitrile and N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone: Synthesis,characterization, and reactivity ratios

4‐Acetamidophenyl acrylate (APA) was synthesized and characterized by IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopies. Homo‐ and copolymers of APA with acrylonitrile (AN) and N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (NVP) were prepared by a free radical polymerization. All the copolymer compositions have been determined by ¹H NMR technique, and the reactivity ratios of the monomer pairs have been evaluated using the linearization methods Fineman–Ross, Kelen–Tudos, and extended Kelen–Tudos. Nonlinear error‐in‐variable model (EVM) method was used to compare the reactivity ratios. The reactivity ratios for copoly(APA–AN) system were APA(r₁) = 0.70 and AN(r₂) = 0.333, and for copoly(APA–NVP) system the values were APA(r₁) = 4.99 and NVP(r₂) = 0.019. Thermal stability and molecular weights of the copolymers are reported. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 99: 1919–1927, 2006     

Atom transfer radical homo‐ and copolymerization of styrene and methyl acrylate initiated with trichloromethyl‐ terminated poly(vinyl acetate) macroinitiator: A kinetic study

Atom transfer radical bulk copolymerization of styrene (St) and methyl acrylate (MA) initiated with trichloromethyl‐terminated poly(vinyl acetate) macroinitiator was performed in the presence of CuCl/PMDETA as a catalyst system at 90°C. Linear dependence of ln[M]₀/[M] versus time data along with narrow polydispersity of molecular weight distribution revealed that all the homo‐ and copolymerization reactions proceed according to the controlled/living characteristic. To obtain more reliable monomer reactivity ratios, the cumulative average copolymer composition at moderate to high conversion was determined by ¹H‐NMR spectroscopy. Reactivity ratios of St and MA were calculated by the extended Kelen‐Tudos (KT) and Mao‐Huglin (MH) methods to be r_St = 1.018 ± 0.060, r_MA = 0.177 ± 0.025 and r_St = 1.016 ± 0.053, r_MA = 0.179 ± 0.023, respectively, which are in a good agreement with those reported for the conventional free‐radical copolymerization of St and MA. Good agreement between the theoretical and experimental composition drifts in the comonomer mixture and copolymer as a function of the overall monomer conversion were observed, indicating that the reactivity ratios calculated by copolymer composition at the moderate to high conversion are accurate. Instantaneous copolymer composition curve and number‐average sequence length of comonomers in the copolymer indicated that the copolymerization system tends to produce a random copolymer. However, MA‐centered triad distribution results indicate that the spontaneous gradient copolymers can also be obtained when the mole fraction of MA in the initial comonomer mixture is high enough. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Investigation of microstructure of the N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone/methyl methacrylate copolymers by NMR spectroscopy

The copolymers containing N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (V) and methyl methacrylate (M) units of different compositions were synthesized by free radical bulk polymerization. The copolymer composition of these copolymers was determined by CHN analysis. The distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer (DEPT) technique was used to resolve the methine, methylene, and methyl resonance signals in the V/M copolymer. Comonomer reactivity ratios were determined by the Kelen–Tudos (KT) and nonlinear least‐square error‐in‐variable (EVM) methods. ¹H–¹³C Heteronuclear shift quantum correlation spectroscopy (HSQC) and ¹H–¹H homonuclear total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY) spectra were used for the resolution of the proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectrum of the V/M copolymers. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 85: 1328–1336, 2002     

Monomer apparent reactivity ratios for acrylonitrile/methyl vinyl ketone copolymerization system

Methyl vinyl ketone was firstly used to successfully copolymerize with acrylonitrile. This was achieved by using azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator, and dimethyl sulfoxide as the solvent. Effect of copolymerization systems on monomer apparent reactivity ratios for copolymer of acrylonitrile with methyl vinyl ketone was studied for contrast. Values of monomer apparent reactivity ratios were calculated by Kelen–Tudos method. It has been found that the apparent reactivity ratios in aqueous suspension polymerization system were similar to those in solution polymerization system at polymerization conversion less than 20%. Beyond 50% of conversion, the changes of monomer apparent reactivity ratios become less prominent. In water‐rich reaction medium [(H₂O/dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO)>80/20), monomer apparent reactivity ratios were approximately equivalent to those in aqueous suspension polymerization system. In DMSO‐rich reaction medium (DMSO/H₂O > 80/20), apparent reactivity ratios were similar to those in solution polymerization system. Values of apparent reaction ratios both decreased when AN/MVK copolymer was synthesized in DMF and DMAc. The values of apparent reaction ratios gradually tend to 1 with increasing the copolymerization temperature. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 4045–4048, 2006     

Copolymerization of n‐butylacrylate with styrene by a novel photoinitiator, 1‐(bromoacetyl)pyrene

A comparative study on photoinitiated solution copolymerization of n‐butylacrylate (BA) with styrene (Sty) using pyrene (Py), 1‐acetylpyrene (AP), and 1‐(bromoacetyl)pyrene (BP) as initiators showed that the introduction of a chromophoric moiety, bromoacetyl (? COCH₂Br), significantly increased the photoinitiating ability of pyrene. The kinetics and mechanism of copolymerization of BA with Sty using BP as photoinitiator have been studied in detail. The system follows nonideal kinetics (R_p ∝ [BP]^0.34 [BA]^1.07 [Sty]^0.97). The nonideality was attributed to both primary radical termination and degradative initiator transfer. The monomer reactivity ratios of Sty and BA have been estimated by the Finemann–Ross and Kelen–Tudos methods, by analyzing copolymer compositions determined by ¹H NMR spectra. The values of r₁ (Sty) and r₂ (BA) were found to be 0.78 and 0.25, respectively, which suggested the high concentration of alternating sequences in the random copolymers obtained. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 3233–3239, 2006     

Kinetic study of atom transfer radical homo- and copolymerization of styrene and methyl methacrylate initiated with trichloromethyl-terminated poly(vinyl acetate) macroinitiator

Atom transfer radical bulk copolymerization of styrene (St) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) was performed in the presence of CuCl/PMDETA as a catalyst system and trichloromethyl-terminated poly(vinyl acetate) telomer as a macroinitiator at 90 °C. The overall monomer conversion was followed gravimetrically and the cumulative average copolymer composition at moderate to high conversion was determined by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. Reactivity ratios of St and MMA were calculated by the extended Kelen–Tudos (KT) and Mao–Huglin (MH) methods to be r_St = 0.605 ± 0.058, r_MMA = 0.429 ± 0.042 and r_St = 0.602 ± 0.043, r_MMA = 0.430 ± 0.032, respectively, which are in good agreement with those reported for the conventional free-radical copolymerization of St and MMA. The 95% joint confidence limit was used to evaluate accuracy of the estimated reactivity ratios. Results showed that in the controlled/living radical polymerization systems such as ATRP, more reliable reactivity ratios are obtained when copolymer composition at moderate to high conversion is used. Good agreement between the theoretical and experimental composition drifts in the comonomer mixture and copolymer as a function of the overall monomer conversion was observed, indicating the accuracy of reactivity ratios calculated by copolymer composition at the moderate to high conversion. Instantaneous copolymer composition curve and number-average sequence length of comonomers in the copolymer indicated that the copolymerization system tends to produce a random copolymer.     

Monte Carlo simulation of sequence distributions of acrylonitrile copolymers

A Monte Carlo simulation examining the effect of monomer ratios on the composition and sequence distribution of acrylonitrile(AN) copolymers with N‐vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP), itaconic acid (IA), and acrylic acid (AA) as comonomers has been developed. The Kelen–Tudos method was used to estimate monomer reactivity ratios. The results of the simulation are consistent with the academic conclusion and are as foreseen by the experimental data. The average number of NVP identical monomers in a sequence length of AN/NVP copolymer chain increases continuously and the average number of AN identical monomers in a sequence length shows a prominent decrease with an increase of NVP concentration in the feed. Changes in the monomer average number of AN/IA and AN/AA copolymers in a sequence length were the same as those of AN/NVP copolymer with an increase of comonomer concentration in the feed. The optimum weight ratio of AN with comonomers for manufacturing carbon fibers is 98/2. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 96: 483–488, 2005     

Sequencing of methyl methacrylate/vinylidene chloride copolymers by NMR spectroscopy

Methyl methacrylate/vinylidene chloride (M/V) copolymers of different monomer concentrations were prepared by photopolymerization using the uranyl ion as photosensitizer. The copolymer composition was determined by chlorine estimation of the copolymers. The complete assignment of the ¹³C{¹H} NMR spectra of these copolymers is made by comparison with the spectra of poly(methyl methacrylate) and observing the changes in the intensities of the resonances with copolymer composition. The quaternary carbon of V- and M- center resonances were used for determining the sequence in terms of the distribution of V- and M- centered triads. The triad fractions thus obtained were compared with theoretically determined triad concentrations. The Monte Carlo simulation method was also used for estimating the copolymerization behavior. The variation of V- and M- centered triad concentrations was reported as a function of fractional conversions. The comonomer reactivity ratios, determined by both Kelen Tudos and nonlinear error in variables methods are r_V = 0.26 ± 0.04 and r_M = 2.88 ± 0.23. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 70: 373–381, 1998     

Free radical solution copolymerization of glycidyl methacrylate with n-vinyl pyrrolidinone

Copolymers of glycidyl methacrylate (monomer 1) with N-vinyl pyrrolidinone (monomer 2) were prepared at 70°C in low yield by free radical initiated solution polymerizations in ethyl acetate, 1,4-dioxane and mixtures of the two solvents. Copolymer compositions were determined by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Monomer reactivity ratios were then derived using the method of Kelen & Tudos. The magnitude of r₁ was relatively unaffected by solvent composition, and ranged from 4.32 to 4.53 in a random fashion. In contrast, values of r₂ showed a greater relative (but still random) spread from 0.0075 to 0.0147. Copolymers prepared by batch polymerization are selectively enriched with GMA monomer.     

Nuclear magnetic resonance studies of N‐vinylcarbazole/methyl methacrylate copolymers

Copolymers of N‐vinylcarbazole and methyl methacrylate of different compositions were prepared by solution polymerization with azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator, and their compositions were determined from quantitative ¹³C{¹H}‐NMR spectroscopy. The reactivity ratios for the comonomers were calculated with the Kelen–Tudos and nonlinear error‐in‐variable methods. The complete spectral assignment of the overlapping ¹H and ¹³C{¹H} spectra of the copolymers was made with the help of distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer, two‐dimensional heteronuclear single‐quantum correlation, and total correlation spectroscopy. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 3005–3012, 2003     

Kinetic study of copolymerization of acrylonitrile with ammonium acrylate

Ammonium acrylate was first used to successfully copolymerize with acrylonitrile. Kinetics of copolymerization of acrylonitrile with ammonium acrylate was investigated in a H₂O/dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) mixture. The rate of copolymerization and particle size were measured. Kinetic equation of the copolymerization was obtained. Effect of copolymerization systems on monomer apparent reactivity ratios for acrylonitrile/ammonium acrylate copolymers was studied in comparison. Values of monomer apparent reactivity ratios were calculated by Kelen‐Tudos method. It has been found that monomer apparent reactivity ratios in water‐rich reaction medium [H₂O/DMSO>80/20] are approximately equivalent to those in aqueous suspension polymerization system. In DMSO‐rich reaction medium (DMSO/H₂O > 80/20), apparent reactivity ratios are similar to those in solution polymerization system. With an increase in polarity of solvent, values of apparent reaction ratios both decrease. The values of apparent reaction ratios gradually tend to 1 with increase in the copolymerization temperature. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 4679–4683, 2006     

Cationic copolymerization of 1 ,3-pentadiene-with isoprene

The cationic copolymerization of 1,3-pentadiene (PD) with isoprene (IP) initiated by AICl₃, was carried out in toluene. The microstructure of the copolymer chain was characterized by IR and ¹H NMR. IP is incorporated in the copolymer chain mainly in cyclic segments. The PD–IP copolymer has a much higher cyclic content than the PD homopolymer, which shows that the cyclization reaction during PD polymerization is enhanced by the addition of IP. In addition, the reactivity ratios for IP(M₁) and PD(M₂) determined by the Kelen–Tudos method from low-conversion data are r₁ = 1.22 and r₂ = 1.09.     

Copolymerization of acrylonitrile with methyl vinyl ketone

Methyl vinyl ketone (MVK) was first used to successfully copolymerize with acrylonitrile (AN). This was achieved with azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator. The kinetics of the copolymerization of AN with MVK were investigated in a H₂O/dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) mixture between 50 and 70°C under N₂ atmosphere. The rate of copolymerization was measured. The kinetic equation of the copolymerization system was obtained, and the overall activation energy for the copolymerization system was determined. The values of the monomer apparent reactivity ratios were calculated by the Kelen–Tudos method. In a DMSO‐rich reaction medium (DMSO/H₂O > 80/20), the monomer apparent reactivity ratios were similar to those in the solution polymerization system. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 99: 1940–1944, 2006     

Microstructure analysis of N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone/vinyl acetate copolymers by NMR spectroscopy

N‐Vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (V) and vinyl acetate (A) copolymers of different compositions were synthesized by free radical bulk polymerization. The copolymer composition of these copolymers was determined using quantitative ¹³C{¹H} NMR spectra. The reactivity ratios for these comonomers were determined using the Kelen–Tudos (KT) and non‐linear least‐square error‐in‐variable (EVM) methods. The reactivity ratios calculated from the KT and EVM methods are r_V = 2.86 ± 0.16, r_A = 0.36 ± 0.09 and r_V = 2.56, r_A = 0.33, respectively. ¹H, ¹³C{¹H} and ¹H–¹³C heteronuclear shift correlation spectroscopy (HSQC) and ¹H–¹H homonuclear total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY) were used for the compositional and configurational assignments of V/A copolymers. The ¹³C distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer (DEPT) technique was used to resolve the methine, methylene and methyl resonance signals in the V/A copolymers. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry     

Charge transfer copolymerization and properties of isopropyl methacrylate with acrylonitrile and methacrylonitrile

Isopropyl methacrylate (IPMA) with Acrylonitrile (AN) and Methacrylonitrile (MAN) copolymers of different copositions were prepared at 60°C and 80°C, respectively, using a mixture of n-Butylamine (nBA) and carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) in dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) as a charge transfer (CT) initiator. The percentage composition of the copolymers was established by elemental analysis. The copolymerization reactivity ratios were computed by the Kelen–Tudos method. In both the systems, IPMA was found to be more reactive; the copolymers sequence was random in nature. The copolymers were characterized by IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy and intrinsic viscosity measurements in dimethyl formamide (DMF) at 30±0.1°C. The thermal behavior of the AN-IPMA copolymers was studied by thermogravimetry (TG) in air. The thermal stability increased, with increasing AN content in the copolymer chain. The solubility parameter of AN-IPMA copolymer was evaluated by studying the intrinsic viscosity in different solvents. The solubility parameter of the copolymer was found to be 9.7 (cal/cc)^1/2.     

Compositional and configurational sequence determination of methacrylonitrile–vinylidene chloride copolymers by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Methacrylonitrile–vinylidene chloride (M/V) copolymers of different composition were prepared by bulk polymerization using benzoyl peroxide as an initiator under nitrogen atmosphere in a sealed tube. The copolymer composition was determined from quantitative ¹³C[¹H] NMR spectra. The reactivity ratios for M/V copolymers obtained from a linear Kelen–Tudos method and nonlinear error‐in‐variables method are r_M = 2.47 ± 0.14, r_V = 0.40 ± 0.02, and r_M = 2.43, r_V = 0.39, respectively. The complete spectral assignment in term of compositional and conformational sequences of these copolymers were done with the help of distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer, two‐dimensional heteronuclear single‐quantum coherence spectroscopy. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 96: 1865–1874, 2005     

Copolymerization kinetics of acrylonitrile with amino ethyl‐2‐methyl propenoate in H2O/DMSO mixture

Amino ethyl‐2‐methyl propenoate (AEMP) was used successfully to copolymerize with acrylonitrile (AN). This was achieved by using azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator. Kinetics of copolymerization of AN with AEMP was investigated in H₂O/dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) mixture between 50 and 70 °C under N₂ atmosphere. The rate of copolymerization was measured. The kinetic equation of copolymerization system was obtained and the overall activation energy for the copolymerization system was determined. Values of monomer apparent reactivity ratios were calculated using Kelen–Tudos method. It has been found that the apparent reactivity ratios in aqueous suspension polymerization system are similar to those in solution polymerization system at polymerization conversion less than 25%. At conversion beyond 45%, the changes of monomer apparent reactivity ratios become less prominent. In water‐rich reaction medium (H₂O/DMSO > 70/30), monomer apparent reactivity ratios are approximately equivalent to those in aqueous suspension polymerization system. In DMSO‐rich reaction medium (DMSO/H₂O > 70/30), apparent reactivity ratios are similar to those in solution polymerization system. With an increase of polarity of solvent, values of apparent reaction ratios both decrease. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 2095–2100, 2006     

Synthesis,characterization, and reactivity ratios of copolymers derived from 4‐nitrophenyl acrylate and n‐butyl methacrylate

Free‐radical copolymerization of 4‐nitrophenyl acrylate (NPA) with n‐butyl methacrylate (BMA) was carried out using benzoyl peroxide as an initiator. Seven different mole ratios of NPA and BMA were chosen for this study. The copolymers were characterized by IR, ¹H‐NMR, and ¹³C‐NMR spectral studies. The molecular weights of the copolymers were determined by gel permeation chromatography and the weight‐average (M _w) and the number‐average (M _n) molecular weights of these systems lie in the range of 4.3–5.3 × 10⁴ and 2.6–3.0 × 10⁴, respectively. The reactivity ratios of the monomers in the copolymer were evaluated by Fineman–Ross, Kelen–Tudos, and extended Kelen–Tudos methods. The product of r₁, r₂ lies in the range of 0.734–0.800, which suggests a random arrangement of monomers in the copolymer chain. Thermal decomposition of the polymers occurred in two stages in the temperature range of 165–505°C and the glass transition temperature (T_g) of one of the systems was 97.2°C. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 1817–1824, 2003