Solvent and kinetic penultimate unit effects in the copolymerization of acrylonitrile with itaconic acid

Copolymerization of acrylonitrile (AN) with itaconic acid (IA) in dimethylformamide (DMF) and DMF/water mixture was investigated at enhanced concentrations of the latter. Analysis of the copolymer composition revealed the existence of a marked penultimate unit effect with respect to radicals terminated in AN. The reactivity of IA was considerably less than that of AN, manifested as a negative reactivity ratio for the former. The rIA values ranging from −0.28 to −0.50 and rAN values ranging from 0.53 to 0.70, were obtained by Kelen–Tudo's (KT) and extended KT methods. The penultimate reactivity ratios were determined by both linear and non-linear methods. The values ranged from r1=0.009 to 0.01, r1′=0.0015 to 0.0043, r2=0.54 to 0.69 and r2′=0.9 to 1.03. The reactivity of AN radical towards IA decreased about twofold when the latter formed the penultimate group. The penultimate model explained an acceptable rational feed-copolymer composition profile for the whole composition range. Addition of water decreased the reactivity of IA slightly. IA caused a decrease in the apparent copolymerization rate in agreement with the observed trends in the reactivity ratios; presence of water caused a further decrease in the rate of polymerization. A statistical prediction of monomer sequences based on reactivity ratios implied that IA existed as a lone monomer unit between the long sequences of AN units.