Kinetic study of pyrrole polymerization with iron (III) chloride in water

Abstract

Abstract The chemical synthesis of polypyrrole in water, with FeCl 3 as an oxidant of pyrrole, was investigated. During these experiments in ambient air, a large evaporation of pyrrole was observed. Moreover, a kinetic study of pyrrole disappearance by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), with various FeCl 3 concentrations, proved that the polymerization is first order with respect to the pyrrole and second order with respect to the FeCl 3 . These kinetics can be explained by the formation of an intermediary FeCl 3 –pyrrole complex as the first step of the polymerization. The second step, which is rate‐determining, is the pyrrole oxidation by FeCl 3 , © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.