Study on kinetics of controlled/living radical polymerization of acrylonitrile by RAFT technique

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was synthesized in DMF by RAFT employing azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) as the initiator and 2-cyanoprop-2-yl dithiobenzoate (CPDB) as the chain transfer agent. The polymerization rate studied was directly proportional to [AIBN]0.94 and negative exponent to [CPDB], and a kinetic equation was obtained as Rp = k[AIBN]0.94[CPDB]−0.43[M] at 65 °C.