Homopolymerization and copolymerization of
N-acetoxymethylmaleimide (I),
N-propionyloxymethyl-maleimide (II),
N-isobutyryloxymethylmaleimide (III), and
N-benzoyloxymethylmaleimide (IV) were carried out at 60°C by using azobisisobutyronitrile (V) as an initiator in tetrahydrofuran. The initial rate of the polymerization was expressed by the equation
Rp=
k [I]
2.9 [V]
0.57, where
k is rate constant. The overall activation energy and frequency factor measured were 23.7 kcal/mol and 2.8×10
12s
-1, respectively, for I. The reactivity ratios were determined as
r1=0.049, r
r2=1.46;
r1=0.095,
r2=1.44;
r1=0.031,
r2=1.71;
r1=0.083,
r2=0.79 for the copolymerizations of I, II, III, and IV (M
1) with methyl methacrylate (M
1), respectively. The
Q and
e values calculated from these reactivity ratios were
Q=0.96,
e=2.02 for I;
Q=0.89,
e=1.81 for II;
Q=1.18,
e=2.11 for III;
Q=1.81,
e=2.05 for IV.
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