Investigation on the kinetics and thermodynamics of polyacrylonitrile-b-poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate) via organotellurium-mediated living radical polymerization by micro-calorimeter

Abstract

The polyacrylonitrile-b-poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PAN-b-PHEA) was synthesized of polyacrylonitrile-TeMe (PAN-TeMe) and 2-Hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) via organotellurium-mediated living radical polymerization (TERP), and the PAN-TeMe and PAN-b-PHEA were characterized by several methods. A Calvet micro-calorimeter was used to investigate the polymerization of PAN-TeMe and HEA at different temperatures (358.15 K, 363.15 K, 368.15 K, 373.15 K, 378.15 K and 383.15 K). The kinetic equations of polymerization at different temperatures were obtained, and the apparent activation energy (E) of polymerization is 16.43±0.17 kJ∙mol−1 and the pre-exponential factor (A) is 0.6845±0.0366 s−1. Furthermore, the thermodynamic parameters including the standard molar Gibbs free energy of activation (ΔG≠θ), the standard molar enthalpy of activation (ΔH≠θ) and the standard molar entropy of activation (ΔS≠θ) are acquired.