Polymerization of Acrylonitrile Initiated by the Redox System, K2S2O8-Citric Acid Catalyzed by Silver Ion

The polymerization of acrylonitrile initiated by the redox system K2S2O8-citric acid catalyzed by Ag+ ion has been studied over the temperature range 35–50°C. The rate of polymerization is proportional to the square root of peroxydisulfate concentration. The initial rate increases with increasing citric acid concentration, but at relatively higher concentration of citric acid the rate decreases. The rate of polymerization also increases with increasing monomer concentration and temperature. The overall activation energy calculated from the Arrhenius plot was found to be 4.6 kcal/mole. On the basis of the observation, a suitable kinetic scheme has been proposed for the reaction.