Head‐to‐head vinyl polymers. V. Preparation and characterization of alternating head‐to‐head copolymers of alkyl acrylates with alkyl methacrylates

Abstract

AbstractAlternating head‐to‐head (h‐h) copolymers of methyl or n‐butyl acrylates with the corresponding methacrylates were synthesized by alternating copolymerization of ethylene with citraconic anhydride, followed by esterification and Characterization. The respective equimolar (1:) head‐to‐tail (h‐t) copolymers were also prepared by conventional radical copolymerization as comparison. The alternating, relatively low molecular weight h‐h copolymers obtained showed softening, glass transition, and degradation temperatures somewhat higher than those displayed by the 1:1 h‐t copolymers. After pyrolysis the main decomposition products from both h‐h and h‐t copolymers were alcohols, acrylates, and methacrylates. Furthermore, the ratios of alcohols to acrylates were larger for the h‐h than for the h‐t copolymers and smaller for the methyl than for the n‐butyl esters.