Polymerization of alkyl allyl oxalates in the evolution of carbon dioxide at elevated temperatures

Abstract

AbstractRadical polymerization of several alkyl allyl oxalates, including methyl allyl oxalate (MAO), ethyl allyl oxalate, propyl allyl oxalate, butyl allyl oxalate, and octyl allyl oxalate, was conducted in the evolution of carbon dioxide at elevated temperatures, and was compared with the anomalous polymerization behavior of diallyl oxalate (DAO) discussed in our earlier articleA. Matsumoto, I. Tamura, M. Yamawaki, and M. Oiwa, J. Polym. Sci. Polym. Chem. Ed., 17, 1419 (1979). . The kinetic equations for the polymerization of alkyl allyl oxalate were derived following the kinetic treatment of the DAO polymerization by further consideration of the absence of cyclization of the growing polymer radical and the effective reinitiation by alkyl radical, and were then satisfactorily applied to the polymerization of MAO, as a representative alkyl allyl oxalate. The evolution of carbon dioxide in the polymerization of alkyl allyl oxalates was enhanced with the increase of bulkiness of the alkyl substituent, as a result of steric suppression of the propagation of the growing polymer radical.