Water-Soluble imide-amide copolymers. I. Preparation and characterization of poly [acrylamide-co-sodium N-(4-sulfophenyl) maleimide]

Sodium N-(4-sulfophenyl) maleimide (SPMI) and its saturated succinimide counterpart were first prepared according to established methods. Hydrolysis experiments on these monomers monitored by ¹H-NMR showed that although SPMI monomer was about 15% hydrolyzed in D₂O at 23°C in 24 h. Sodium N-(4-sulfophenyl) succinimide, which is similar in structure to the imide units in the copolymers, was only 1% hydrolyzed after 18 days at 23°C and 29% hydrolyzed after 18 days at 60°C. This indicated that the saturated imide rings in the copolymer might be sufficiently stable to hydrolysis for the copolymers to be useful. However, hydrolysis at high pH demonstrated that the imide rings would be rapidly saponified under alkaline conditions, destroying the structural rigidity that the intact rings might have provided in the copolymer chains. Sodium N-(4-sulfophenyl) maleimide (SPMI) was copolymerized with acrylamide in water at 30°C without cleavage of the imide ring. Water-soluble poly [acrylamide-co-sodium-N-(4-sulfophenyl) maleimide] (PAMSM) samples containing from 7.4 to 64 mol % imide were prepared. Photoacoustic FTIR and ¹³C-NMR spectra were used to confirm the structure of the copolymers obtained. Elemental analysis was used to determine the imide content of the copolymers, and from this composition data reactivity ratios were calculated for the two component monomers.