Kinetics and mechanism of radical polymerization of weak unsaturated acids in aqueous solutions

The behaviour of weak unsaturated acids (such as acrylic and methacrylic) and their salts in radical polymerization in aqueous solutions was studied. A characteristic of these reactions was attributed to change of the effective reactivity of the propagating radicals with the nature of the reaction mixture. The data suggest that the formation of ion pairs may be responsible for a considerable increase in the propagation rate and, in consequence, in the overall polymerization rate. For alkaline values of pH, chain propagation involves only radicals having ion pairs at their ends; the participation of the ion pairs in the propagation can influence the microstructure of the polymer chains. Due to stereochemical control effected by the ion pairs, practically stereospecific polyacids may, in certain cases, be formed. Investigations on the temperature dependence of microtacticity have given values of activation enthalpy and entropy differences greatly exceeding those known up to now for isotactic and syndiotactic radical additions.