MECHANISM AND KINETICS OF THE RADICAL POLYMERIZATION OF ACRYLAMIDE IN INVERSE MICELLES

A kinetic study of the photoinitiated polymerization of acrylamide in oil/AOT/H2O reverse micelles has been investigated. Determinations of the dependence of the rates of polymerization and the molecular weights of the polymers on initiator and monomer concentrations, as well as the relative light intensity and the identity of the oil employed were performed. Rates of polymerization were measured by dilatometry, and polymer molecular weights were determined by viscometry. The polymerization was shown to be first order in monomer concentration, and the order of the termination step of the polymerization depended strongly upon the oil employed. When the oil was benzene, termination occurred by a biradical process. When benzene was replaced by toluene, a monoradical termination was shown to occur, suggesting that a degradative chain transfer to toluene is occurring in this case. The similarities and differences of polymerization in conventional emulsions and in micelles are discussed on the basis of these results. Copyright © 1990 Hüthig & Wepf Verlag