Premium
Copolymerization of dehydrated castor oil with styrene: Determination of reactivity ratios
Author(s) -
Cassidy P. E.,
Schwank G. D.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1974.070180830
Subject(s) - comonomer , copolymer , reactivity (psychology) , styrene , polymer chemistry , chemistry , castor oil , benzene , saponification , organic chemistry , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , polymer
Dehydrated castor oil (DCO) has been used as a comonomer with styrene to determine reactivity ratios. The polymerization was a free‐radical process in benzene, and the product was isolated by evaporation of the reaction mixture and by two precipitations into petroleum ether from benzene. The copolymer composition was determined by a saponification procedure. DCO was found to have a high chain transfer constant and a very low reactivity ratio (estimated at 0.086) compared to styrene (11.6). It was found that copolymerization is difficult to achieve in a system where the DCO concentration in the reaction mixture was above 20 mole‐%.