Substituent effect on the hydrolysis of side groups in poly(phenyl methacrylates)

The kinetics of the basic hydrolysis of several poly(phenyl methacrylates) with different substituents in the aromatic ring were investigated. Using Keller's equations to describe the effect of neighboring groups on the kinetics of side-group reactions in polymers, we computed the corresponding rate constants which correlated well with Hammett's substituent constants.