Precipitation polymerization of acrylamide with quaternary ammonium cationic monomer in potassium carbonate solution initiated by plasma

Precipitation polymerization of 2‐(methacryloyloxyethyl) trimethyl ammonium chloride (DMC)‐co‐acrylamide (AM) [poly(AM‐DMC)] has been successfully performed in potassium carbonate (K₂CO₃)‐water media by plasma initiation. K₂CO₃ solution was selected because not only the higher solubility of AM and DMC comparing with that of poly(AM‐DMC), but the higher intrinsic viscosity of poly(AM‐DMC) could be obtained. A set of experiments was performed using different K₂CO₃ concentration (from 50 down to 10% (w/w)), thus the precipitation architecture was not obtained below 20% (w/w). And particles size, particles size distribution (7–120 μm), and intrinsic viscosity of poly(AM‐DMC) (ranging up to 455 cm³/g) were also summarized in this article. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 4060–4067, 2007