Copolymerization of acrylonitrile with butyl acrylate and determination of monomer reactivity ratios

Abstract EN

Radical initiation copolymerization of acrylonitrle (AN) with butyl acryl ate (BA) was carried out with benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as initiator in dimethyl form amide (DMF) at (75°C) in argon atmosphere.

Structure and composition of copolymers for a wide range of monomer feed were determined by infra-red spectroscopy through recorded analytical absorption bands that were CO of ester group of (BA) and CN group of (AN) Monomer reactivity ratio (r1, r2) for AN-BA pair were determined by two methods, the first depends upon the absorbance of analytical band and the molecular weight of the monomer, while the second method depends upon the absorbance of analytical band and its molar absorbativity.

Fine man-Ross (F-R) and Kelen-Tüdos (K-T) equations were used in the calculations.

The obtained reactivity ratios r1, r2, are listed below : r1 (AN) r2 (BA) F-R K-T F-R K-T 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 0.7606 0.6792 0.8678 0.778 1.0282 1.1745 1.3135 1.4693