Poly[N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide]. IV. Heterogeneous polymerization

Kinetics of radical heterogeneous polymerization of N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide was studied in acetone at 55°C. The values of reaction order with respect to the monomer (1.6) and to the initiator (0.5) indicate a bimolecular termination and degradative transfer during the chain growth. The over-all rate constant of polymerization was found to be 5.6.10-4. Addition of a small amount of a solvent (methanol) to the polymerization mixture led to an increased polymerization rate and increased molecular weight of the resulting polymer, but a higher amount of the solvent brought about a decrease of both characteristics. The Occurence of maxima on the dependences of R_p, as well as M?_w on the monomer concentration was interpreted in terms of the classical Bamford and Jenkins theory.