The applicability of copolymer composition and sequence distribution data to the mechanistic study of the alternating copolymerisation of maleic anhydride with substituted styrene derivatives

The composition and sequence distribution of copolymers of maleic anhydride (MA) with p‐methoxystyrene (p‐MST) and p‐chlorostyrene (p‐CST) prepared in ethyl methyl ketone at 50 ± 0,1°C were analysed using 13C DEPT NMR techniques, in order to compare the applicability of composition and sequence distribution data to the study of the mechanism of copolymerisation using the terminal, penultimate and complex‐participation models. In the case of the strongly alternating copolymerisation of p‐MST with MA, the comparison of models on the basis of sequence distribution data was found to be better at separating each model in terms of its applicability, with the complex‐participation model providing the best fit to the data. In the case of the less strongly alternating copolymerisation of p‐CST with MA, neither method of comparison could clearly distinguish between the penultimate and complex‐participation models.