Synthesis and Polymerization of Surface-Active Sodium Acrylamidoundecanoate

The polymerizable surfactant sodium 11-acrylamidoundecanoate (Na 11-AAU) was synthesized from acryloyl chloride and 11-aminounde-canoic acid. It had a low critical micelle concentration (CMC) of 4.3 × 10−4 mol/L. Polymerization of Na 11-AAU initiated by K2S2O8 was very fast in aqueous solution, with an activation energy of only 63.2 kJ/mol. The polymerization followed first-order kinetics with respect to Na 11-AAU and one-half order with respect to K2S2O8. The MW of poly(Na 11-AAU) was very high (1–2 million) but the MWD was rather narrow ( M w / M n = 1.45). Polymerization of Na 11-AAU in the micellar state may be responsible for the phenomena observed.