1. Water as the Preferred Solvent for Lewis Acid-Catalyzed Free Radical Polymerization and Initiation of Spontaneous 'Charge-Transfer' Polymerization
H.K. Hall, Jr., Chemistry Department, The University of Arizona
Tucson AZ 85721
Lewis acid-catalyzed free radical copolymerization, LAFR, of vinyl monomers has been reinvestigated using water as the solvent. As a first step, highly concentrated aqueous solutions of ZnBr2 are mixed with acrylonitrile, resulting in effective complexation. Addition of the electron-rich monomer at 0 ˚C averts adventitious cationic homopolymerization. A photoinitiator is used. Alternating copolymers were obtained in high yields and high molecular weights. The copolymerizations were also successful in sulfolane. New monomer combinations become possible using this polymerization method.