Copolymerization of zinc acrylate with acrylonitrile initiated by As2S3-styrene complex

Abstract

Radical copolymerization of zinc acrylate (ZnA2) with acrylonitrile (AN), initiated by As2S3–styrene complex(I), in dimethyl Sulphoxide (DMSO) at 90 ± 0.1°C for 1.0h under inert atmosphere, yields non-alternating copolymers. The kinetic expression is Rp ∝ [I]0.33 [ZnA2]0.25 [AN]0.44, i.e. the system follows non-ideal kinetics, which is due to primary radical termination as well as degradative chain transfer reactions. The values for activation energy (E) and k2p/kt are 128kJ mol−1 and 8.57 × 10−7 litre mol−1 s−1, respectively. Thermal stability, solubility in different solvents, and IR and NMR spectra have been evaluated.