| Abstract: | The effect of solvents on the copolymerization of acrylamide and styrene has been studied. Copolymerization to low conversions were run in a variety of solvents which would affect the acrylamide monomer in different ways, i.e., by hydrogen bonding, by dipole–dipole interaction only, or by a combination of both. The effect upon the acrylamide was measured by the shift in the infrared spectra of the amide carbonyl and N? H groups. Essentially, both hydrogen bridging and dipole–dipole interaction affect acrylamide in the same way, as manifested by a shift in the amide carbonyl and NH towards the longer wavelength. From the standpoint of acrylamide–styrene copolymerization, the greater the shift in the NH absorption, the smaller is the amount of acrylamide that is found in the copolymer. Thus, by the proper choice of solvent, it is possible to obtain copolymers from the same monomer feed ranging in combined acrylamide from very low to very high, and reactivity ratios for acrylamide also ranging from very low to very high. Conversely, for styrene, activity ratios will range from high to low. |
