Specific features of the copolymerization of acrylonitrile and acrylamide in the presence of low-molecular-mass and polymeric trithiocarbonates and properties of the obtained copolymers

Abstract

Regularities of the formation of acrylonitrile-acrylamide copolymers obtained from initial monomer feeds containing 1–50 wt % acrylamide in DMSO solutions with the participation of low-molecular-mass and polymeric trithiocarbonates as reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer agents are studied for the first time. It is shown that the copolymerization in the presence of low-molecular-mass trithiocarbonates proceeds via a pseudo-living mechanism. The synthesized copolymers prove to be inefficient as reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer agents, a result that leads to products with bimodal molecular-mass distributions. The rheological characteristics of solutions, as well as the thermal behavior of the copolymers obtained in the absence and in the presence of reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer agents, are studied. The effect of the synthesis conditions on the properties of the synthesized copolymers is discussed.