Ultrasound assisted polymerization of N-vinyl imidazole under phase-transfer catalysis condition – A kinetic study

The kinetics of phase-transfer catalyzed radical polymerization of N-vinyl imidazole (NVI) using potassium peroxy disulfate (PDS) as water soluble initiator and tetraoctylammonium chloride (TOAC) as PTC has been investigated in ethyl acetate/water two phase system assisted by ultrasound irradiation at constant temperature 60 + 1 °C under nitrogen atmosphere. and. The rate of polymerization increases with an increase in concentrations of NVI, PTC and PDS. The order with respect to [NVI], [PTC], and [PDS] were found to be 1.01, 1.03 and 0.52 respectively. Based on the observed results a suitable mechanism has been proposed to account for the experimental observations followed by a discussion on its significance.

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► A phase-transfer catalyst was used for the polymerization of N-vinyl imidazole.
► 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.
► The rate of polymerization enhanced almost 3-fold and 8-fold with frequency range of 28 kHz, 40 kHz with the same output power of 300 W.
► The rate of polymerization enhanced with ultrasound.