A new technique for polymer grafting

Initiation of free‐radical polymerization by metal carbonyl–organic halide systems has been extended to the case in which the halide component is a N‐halogenated amide or alkylamide. Evidence is presented to show that the nitrogen atom becomes attached as a terminal group to the polymer chain. The halogenated amide group may form an integral part of a polymer. Thus, N‐halogenated polymers may be used with metal carbonyls as initiating systems, so that this technique provides a new means of grafting vinyl polymers on to preformed chains containing CONH groups. Data presented for the grafting of a number of vinyl monomers on to polyamides, polypeptides, and natural proteins enable a detailed mechanism of grafting to be deduced.