ESR determination of rate constants for the radical polymerization of methyl phenethyl itaconate

Phenethyl 2‐(methoxycarbonylmethyl)acrylate (methyl penethyl itaconate) (1) was prepared and its polymerization with dimethyl 2,2′‐azoisobutyrate (2) was investigated kinetically in benzene. The polymerization rate (Rp) was found to be expressed by Rp = k·[2]0,5·[1]1,8 (at 50°C). Further, a higher dependence of Rp (2nd order) on the concentration of 1 was observed at 61°C. The overall activation energy of the polymerization was calculated to be a low value of 50,3 kJ/mol. The initiator efficiency (f) of 2 was determined to be 0,48 to 0,22 at 50°Cand 0,50 to 0,28 at 61°C. f decreases with increasing monomer concentration due to the high viscosity of 1. The poly(1) radical is stable enough to be observable by ESR at high temperatures (50–60°C). Rate constants of propagation (kp) and termination (kt) were estimated using the poly(1) radical concentration determined by ESR. kp [6,0 to 121/(mol·s) at 50°Cand 7,1 to 15 1/(mol·s) at 61°C] shows a trend to increase with the concentration of 1. On the other hand, kt [2,9·104 to 17·1041/(mol·s) at 50°Cand 6,9·104 to 45·1041/(mol. s) at 61°C] decreases with increasing MPI concentration. This behavior is responsible for the high order with respect to monomer concentration. Copolymerization of 1 (M1) with styrene (M2) at 50°Cgave the following results: r1 = 0,36, r2 = 0,40, Q1 = 0,82 and e1 = + 0,59. Using the above results, the rate constants of the cross‐propagations were estimated to be k12 = 22 1/(mol·s) and k21 = 308 1/(mol·s) at 50°C.