Radical polymerization of hydrophobic acrylamide derivatives

Abstract

The radical polymerization of acrylamide, N-butylacrylamide, and N-octylacrylamide in water-THF mixtures with varying compositions was studied. It is shown that, for N-alkylacrylamide derivatives, the rate of polymerization plotted as a function of the water-THF mixture compositions goes through a maximum, whereas, in the acrylamide polymerization, the rate of the process decreases as THF is added to water within the entire range of their ratios. The plot of the polymerization rate versus the mixture composition shows a maximum at the 35 and 15 mol% water content for N-butylacrylamide and N-octylacrylamide, respectively. Analysis of the results of kinetic experiments, as well as the data of NMR spectroscopy and viscometry, allows us to conclude that hydrophobic interactions play an important role in the radical polymerization of water-soluble monomers in aqueous-organic solvents.