Preparation and reactivity of metal-containing monomers

We have observed the phenomenon of thermally initiated frontal polymerization of acrylamide complexes of nitrates of Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), and Zn(II). The velocity of propagation of the polymerization front when using different complexes is (2–9)·10^–2 cm/sec and decreases in the sequence of nitrates: Co(II) > Ni(II) > Mn(II) > Zn(II). Analogous complexes of Cu(II) and Fe(III) under the studied conditions are not polymerized. We have shown that the frontal polyerization products are three-dimensional polymers which are insoluble in organic solvents and slowly swell in water.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 4, pp. 768–772, April, 1990.We thank I. N. Ivlev for making the magnetic susceptibility measurements, and T. I. Ponomarev for studying the thermomechanical properties of the frontal polymerization products; and we acknowledge S. P. Davtyan for discussion of the results obtained.