Electroinitiated copolymerization reactions with donor–acceptor complexes. III. Copolymerization of butadiene and acrylonitrile with ZnCl2 as catalyst

The passage of an electrolytic current initiated polymerization of acrylonitrile with butadiene to form an alternating copolymer. The rate of polymerization increased with increase in current, but the copolymer composition was invariant with current and with degree of conversion. A mechanism is proposed based on donor–acceptor complexes. The formation of these is facilitated by the addition of ZnCl2 which forms an initial complex with the acrylonitrile. Polymerization of the donor–acceptor complexes is initiated by electrochemically generated transient species whose rate of formation is dependent on the current.