Transfer to monomer in the polymerization of N-(3-dimethylaminophenyl) maleimide and N-(3-dimethylamino-6-methylphenyl) maleimide

The kinetics of the homopolymerizations of styrene, N-(3-dimethylaminophenyl) maleimide (I) and N-(3-dimethylamino-6-methylphenyl) maleimide (II) in benzene and dimethylformamide, and the molecular weights of the polymers were studied. N-(3-Dimethylaminophenyl) succinimide, regarded as a model for polymer I, did not affect the polymerization of styrene. The data indicate degradative transfer of polymer radicals to dimethylformamide and pronounced transfer to monomers I and II (C_M ≈ 0.06–0.07). The value of $\text{k}{}_{\mathrm{p}}\text{/k}{}_{\mathrm{t}}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ for II is 0.09 $\text{dm}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>3</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$$\text{mole}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?</mtext><mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$$\text{s}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?</mtext><mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$.