Propagation Kinetics of Isoprene-Glycidyl Methacrylate Copolymerizations Investigated via PLP-SEC

Abstract

Pulsed-laser polymerization combined with polymer analysis by NMR and size-exclusion chromatography is used to study the radical copolymerization kinetics of isoprene (IP) with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA). The copolymer is characterized by a close-to-alternating microstructure, with the addition of IP leading to a significant decrease in the composition-averaged propagation rate coefficient. A rigorous fitting strategy is developed to fit a mixed penultimate model to the data, with the selectivity of the IP, but not the GMA, macroradical dependent on the penultimate unit.

Keywords: PLP-SEC; copolymerization; glycidyl methacrylate; isoprene; propagation rate coefficients; pulsed-laser initiation; radical polymerization; reactivity ratios.