Synthesis and Polymerization of a Zwitterionic Betaine Surfactant: Acryloylundecyldimethylammonio Acetate

A novel polymerizable zwitterionic betaine surfactant of acryloylundecyldimethylammonio acetate (AUDMAA) was synthesized using acryloyl chloride, 11-bromoundecanol, and glycine. Its critical micelle concentration is 9.42 × 10−3 mol/L at 24°C. The polymerization followed first-order kinetics with respect to [AUDMAA] and one-half order with respect to [K2S2O8]. The activation energy for the micellar polymerization of AUDMAA was found to be only 50.2 kJ/mol. The M w of poly(AUDMAA) ranged from about 3.0 to 5.0 × 104 and its MWD was rather narrow (1.8 < M w/M n < 2.0).