Radical Polymerization of Methyl Methacrylate by Captodative Substituted Morpholino Succinonitrile

Abstract

Radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) by captodatively substituted morpholino succinonitrile was studied kinetically at 90 and 130°C by comparison with that of styrene. The polymerizations of MMA and styrene at 90°C proceeded at moderate rates to give polymers which show unimodal size exclusion chromatography (SEC) curves. Both polymerizations at 130°C were significantly fast to give polymers with bimodal SEC curve. A higher molecular weight fraction of the obtained polymer may mostly formed by a spontaneous thermal polymerization in styrene polymerization, but in MMA polymerization produced mainly by dissociation of the domant species. The rate constant of the activation of captodative-capped poly(MMA) domant was smaller than that reported for nitroxide-mediated styrene polymerization.