MOLECULAR INTERACTIONS AND MACROSCOPIC PROPERTIES OF POLYACRYLONITRILE AND MODEL SUBSTANCES.

Abstract

The relationships between intra- and intermolecular forces in polyacrylonitrile on the one hand, and the macroscopic behavior of the polymer and fibers thereof on the other, are reviewed. Characteristic properties such as the very high polymerization rate constant in water, the dissolution of the polymer in concentrated inorganic salt solutions, the high melting point, the strong depression of melting point and glass transition temperature by water, the plasticization by polar additives, etc. , are traced back to their molecular origins, in particular to the strong intra- and intermolecular noncovalent bonding caused by the highly polar nitrile group. The effects of dipole-dipole interaction, hydrogen bonding and electron-donor-acceptor complex formation are discussed separately.