22501-68-4Relevant articles and documents
Studies on the copolymerisation of n-alkyl itaconates with styrene
Kumar, Gulshan,Aggarwal, Saroj,Choudhary, Veena
, p. 2523 - 2526 (2007/10/03)
The synthesis and characterization of n-hexyl itaconate (HI) and n-octyl itaconate (OI) monomers and their homopolymerisation and copolymerisation with styrene in bulk using azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator have been reported. Copolymer composition has been determined from 1H-NMR by taking the ratio of intensities of signals due to -OCH2 protons of itaconates (δ =3.9 ppm) and aromatic protons of styrene (δ =6.8-7.2 ppm). The intensity of signal due to -OCH2 proton increases with increasing mole fraction of itaconate monomers in the feed. The reactivity ratios are found to be r1 = 1.2 (styrene), r2 = 0.75 (HI) and r1 = 1.38 (styrene), r2 = 0.62 (OI). All the samples have high moleculer weight, i.e., Mn in the range of 40 × 103 to 62 × 103 and Mw in the range of 43 × 103 to 113 × 103 with polydispersity index in the range of 1.64 - 1.85. Intrinsic viscosity [η] of the copolymers decreases with increasing amount of itaconate in the copolymers. Inspite of having very high molecular weight (77,000-78,000) the homopolymers (PHI, POI) have a very low value of [η] (4±0.5 ml/g). These low values of [η] may be due to the presence of long branches in itaconates showing comb type structure. Thermal studies of the copolymers show all the samples to be stable up to 300°C.