Ultrasound assisted free radical polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate by a new disite phase-transfer catalyst system: A kinetic study

The kinetics of multi-site phase-transfer catalyzed free radical polymerisation of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) using potassium peroxy disulphate (PDS) as water soluble initiator and newly synthesized 1,4-dihexadecylpyrazine-1,4-diium dibromide as multi-site phase-transfer catalyst (MPTC) has been investigated in ethyl acetate/water two phase system at constant temperature 65 ± 1 °C under nitrogen atmosphere and ultrasound irradiation conditions. The rate of polymerization increases with an increase in concentrations of GMA, PDS and MPTC. The order with respect to monomer, initiator and MPTC were found to be 1.0, 0.5 and 1.0, respectively. The comparative study reveals that the Rp of GMA determined in the presence of PTC combined with ultrasound has shown more enhancements in the activity than PTC alone. Based on the observed results a suitable mechanism has been proposed to account for the experimental observations and its significance was discussed.

► A new multi-site phase-transfer catalyst was used for the polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate.
► Combined effect of ultrasound with various kinetic parameters were studied.
► The effect of different ultrasound frequency was compared for the rate of polymerization of the reaction.