CHEMICAL COPOLYMERIZATION OF ANILINE WITH HALOGEN-SUBSTITUTED ANILINES

The chemical copolymerization of aniline with 2-chloroaniline and 2-iodoaniline by (NH4)2S2O8 in H2SO4 or HCl has been carried out. The composition of the copolymers can be effectively controlled by varying the monomer feed ratio. As the fraction of substituted aniline in the copolymer increases, the electrical conductivity decreases; the electrical conductivity is more adversely affected when iodoaniline is used. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data suggest that, when the copolymers are synthesized in H2SO4, the degree of protonation of the copolymers is approximately constant when the fraction of substituted aniline is <0.5 but, as the fraction of substituted aniline increases beyond 0.5, the extent of protonation decreases substantially. When HCl is used as the protonating acid, the halogen substituent group has a more pronounced negative effect on the protonation of the polymer. © 1990.