Abstract
The electroinitiated polymerization of styrene has been studied in acetone with ferric chloride as the electrolyte. At a fixed monomer concentration, the polymer yield depends on the current strength as well as the concentration of ferric chloride. The molecular weight of the polymer lies in the range of 1000–3000. Addition of zinc chloride to the system or replacement of the solvent by DMF (partly or fully) or methanol retards the polymerization. The current exponent of polymerization is unity with a reaction rate constant of 4.416 × 10 −2 reaction percent per hour. The locus of polymerization is the anode compartment. A cationic mechanism has been proposed for the polymerization, the initiating step consisting of an electron transfer from an adsorbed charge transfer complex of styrene and ferric chloride.
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