Radical polymerization of acrylonitrile under the action of catalytic systems based on zero-valent copper

Abstract

Specific features of the (co)polymerization of acrylonitrile in the presence of a catalytic system based on zero-valent copper and 2,2-bipyridyl in various solvents was studied. It is shown that these systems can be successfully used in the presence of halogen-containing initiators to obtain homo- and copolymers of acrylonitrile with dimethyl itaconate and methyl acrylate in the controlled mode. It was found that introduction of comonomers (methyl acrylate and dimethyl itaconate) in low concentrations has no effect on parameters of the acrylonitrile polymerization process, but strongly affects some properties and characteristics of samples being synthesized.