Structural study of alternating copolymerization of aziridines with cyclic imide

Abstract

AbstractThe structures of copolymers of aziridines with cyclic imides were determined by means of infrared spectrometry, paper electrophoresis of the hydrolyzate, and NMR spectrometry. The structure of the repeating unit in the copolymer of ethylenimine with succinimide was \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$\rlap{--} ({\rm CH}_2 {\rm CH}_2 {\rm NHCOCH}_2 {\rm CH}_2 {\rm CONH}\rlap{--} ) $\end{document}. The endgroups of the copolymer were N‐acylethylenimine ring, N‐substituted succinimide ring, and primary amide group. The copolymer of ethylenimine with N‐ethylsuccinimide had the repeating unit of \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \rlap{--} [{\rm CH}_2 {\rm CH}_2 {\rm NHCOCH}_2 {\rm CH}_2 {\rm CON}({\rm C}_2 {\rm H}_5 )\rlap{--} ] $\end{document} and the endgroups of N‐acylethylenimine and N‐substituted succinimide ring. N‐Ethylethylenimine did not copolymerize with succinimide, but in the presence of water, the reaction occurred to give an amorphous polymer. This copolymer had the repeating unit \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \rlap{--} [{\rm CH}_2 {\rm CH}_2 {\rm NHCOCH}_2 {\rm CH}_2 {\rm CON}({\rm C}_2 {\rm H}_5 )\rlap{--} ] $\end{document} and the endgroups were N‐substituted succinimide ring and amine group but not N‐acylethylenimine ring. On the basis of this structural information, the initiation reaction was discussed.