Copolymerization and copolymers of N‐(2,4,6‐tribromophenyl)maleimide with methyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate

N‐(2,4,6‐Tribromophenyi)maleimide (TBPMI) was copolymerized with methyl acrylate (MA) or methyl methacrylate (MMA) in toluene solution using 2,2′‐azoisobutyronitrile as free‐radical initiation. The copolymerization reactivity ratios were found to be for the system TBPMI/MA r1 = 0,095 ± 0,045 (TBPMI) and r2 = 2,17 ± 0,142 (MA) and for the system TBPMI/MMA r1 = 0,037 ± 0,042 (TBPMI) and r2 = 4,32 ± 0,230 (MMA); Q and e values were also calculated. The initial rate of copolymerization, Rp, for TBPMI/MA sharply decreases as the content of TBPMI in the monomer mixture increases but the composition of the feed does not have a strong influence on Rp for the TBPMI/MMA copolymerization system. The course of copolymerization to high conversion is characterized by an increase of conversion up to a mole fraction of TBPMI of 0,7 in the monomer mixture, when MA was used as the comonomer. An opposite behaviour was found with MMA. Its copolymers show a considerable increase of thermal stability as well as of the glass transition temperatures with increasing TBPMI content.