RADICAL POLYMERIZATION OF METHYL-METHACRYLATE IN SOLUTION MONITORED AND STUDIED BY RAMAN-SPECTROSCOPY

Raman spectroscopy was used to investigate the kinetics of the free-radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in toluene, initiated with azobisisobutyronitrile at 70-degrees-C. The decrease in the intensity of the 1636 cm-1 C=C stretching band compared with a solvent band as an internal standard allows an accurate determination of the rate of conversion of monomers to polymeric chains. A careful quantitative study of the evolution of the C=O stretch band profile, interpreted in terms of intra-chain dipole-dipole interactions, gives a similar dependence for the conversion.