Homopolymerization and copolymerization of methyl methacrylate in the presence of complexing agents—V. influence of the nature of the solvent

Abstract

The kinetics of the alternating copolymerization of styrene and methyl methacrylate (MMA), in the presence of ethylaluminium sesquichloride or diethylaluminium chloride, in carbon tetrachloride solution, have been investigated in order to compare the results with those previously obtained in toluene. Cryometric measurement established that in CCl 4 the binary association of the MMA with the complexing agent involves a dimeric molecule of the organochloroaluminium compound. When the concentration of one of the monomers is increased, the polymerization rate goes through a maximum for a nearly equimolar feed of the monomers, and the usual deviations from the equimolar composition at extreme feed ratio have been observed. The kinetic schemes proposed in the literature only partially account for the experimental data and the maximum value for the polymerization rate could be only qualitatively explained.