Radical Ring-Opening Copolymerization of 2-Methylene 1,3-Dioxepane and Methyl Methacrylate: Experiments Originally Designed to Probe the Origin of the Penultimate Unit Effect

G. Evan Roberts, Michelle L. Coote, Johan P.A. Heuts, Leesa M. Morris, Thomas P. Davis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

73 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Pulsed-laser polymerization experiments were conducted on the copolymerization of 2-methylene 1,3-dioxepane (MDO) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) at 40°C. Reactivity ratios, based on the terminal model, were determined from copolymer compositional analyses as rMDO = 0.057 and rMMA = 34.12. The average propagation rate coefficients, 〈kp〉, were determined for a number of feed compositions ranging from an MDO mole fraction of 0 to 0.916. It was not possible to obtain a 〈kp〉 value for the homopolymerization of MDO as the PLP experiment was compromised by high chain transfer rates to polymer and monomer. The data were fitted to a number of copolymerization models, viz. the terminal and the explicit and implicit penultimate unit models and the bootstrap solvent dependence model. It was found that the terminal and penultimate unit models for copolymerization could not adequately describe the experimental results. A fit to a bootstrap model was successful, but the values obtained indicated a very large, unprecedented, partitioning effect.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1332-1340
Number of pages9
JournalMacromolecules
Volume32
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 1999
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Radical Ring-Opening Copolymerization of 2-Methylene 1,3-Dioxepane and Methyl Methacrylate: Experiments Originally Designed to Probe the Origin of the Penultimate Unit Effect'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this