Preparation of Copolymer Systems of 2-(Isocoumarin-3-yl)-2-oxoethyl Methacrylate with Methyl Methacrylate and Thermal Decomposition Kinetics

Abstract

Novel isocoumarin-derived copolymer systems of 2-(isocoumarin-3-yl)-2-oxoethyl methacrylate (ICEMA) with methyl methacrylate (MMA) were prepared by free radical polymerization. The ICEMA monomer ratios at the copolymer compositions were found to be 25%, 48% and 64% ICEMA by integration method in 1H-NMR technique. Thermal decomposition studies of copolymer systems were performed by thermogravimetric analysis. Various kinetic methods were applied to determine thermal decomposition kinetics of poly(ICEMA:0.48-co-MMA) copolymer. The maximum rate loss temperatures of this copolymer shifted from 295.38 to 323.17 °C depending on the increasing heating rate from 5 to 20 °C/min. The thermal decomposition activation energies of copolymer were investigated in the conversion range of 7–19%, which were resulted to be 126.17 and 125.32 kJ/mol by Flynn–Wall–Ozawa and Kissinger’s methods, respectively. In addition, thermal decomposition process of the studied copolymer followed with a D1 solid-state mechanism, one-dimensional diffusion-type deceleration mechanism, at the optimum heating rate of 5 °C/min.