Copolymerization of methyl 2-acetamidoacrylate and styrene in the presence of stannic chloride

Continuous variation method in UV revealed that methyl N-acetylaminoacrylate (MNA) and SnCl₄ formed the 1:1 complex. The copolymerization of MNA with styrene in tetrahydrofuran was carried out at 50 °C in the presence of SnCl₄. The resulting monomer reactivity ratios decreased with an increasing concentration of SnCl₄ added. This finding suggests that SnCl₄ participates in the propagation step of the copolymerization. Therefore, the copolymerization was analyzed by assuming terpolymerization of free MNA (M₁), complexed MNA (M₂), and styrene (M₃). The absolute copolymerization parameters were obtained as follows: k₁₁/k₁₂=0.165, k₁₁/k₁₃=3.04, k₂₂/k₂₁=0.32, k₂₂/k₂₃=0.103, k₃₃/k₃₁=0.058, k₃₃/k₃₂=0.001, Q₁=6.03, e₁=0.52, Q₂=88.57, and e₂=2.23. The complexed MNA is more reactive to polymer radicals with free MNA and styrene as the terminal unit than the free MNA. Very small values of k₂₂/k₂₃ and k₃₃/k₃₂ suggests that the copolymerization of the complexed MNA and styrene proceeds alternatingly.