Copolymerization of acrylamide and styrene. II. Reactivity ratios with unperturbed acrylamide

It was reported earlier that the copolymerization of acrylamide and styrene is strongly affected by the copolymerization medium. The effect was attributed to a change in the polarity of the ethylenic bond in the acrylamide monomer due to hydrogen bonding and/or dipole—dipole interaction, depending on the medium. In view of those findings, it was suggested that absolute values for the reactivity ratios for the copolymerization of these two monomers might be obtained only when the acrylamide monomer is unperturbed. Copolymerizations of these monomers at a number of ratios, therefore, were done in benzene, which does not undergo hydrogen bonding and has no dipole moment, at high dilution, when amide—amide interactions between acrylamide molecules should be essentially eliminated. The values of r1 and r2(M1 = acrylamide) were 9.14 ± 0.27 and 0.67 ± 0.08, respectively. There appears to be some indication in this system that high dilution adversely affects the reactivity of the acrylamide monomer while enhancing that of styrene. This aspect requires more study.