RADICAL POLYMERIZATION OF VINYL MONOMER HAVING DIACYLUREA MOIETY

N-acryloyl-N'-benzoylurea (1) was prepared and its radical homopolymerization and copolymerization with styrene were carried out. 1 was synthesized yield by the reaction of benzoylisocyanate and acrylamide in tetrahydrofuran in 78%. Radical polymerization of 1 was carried out at 60 or 80 degrees C in DMF (0.1-2.5M) for 5 h in a sealed tube using AIBN (3 mol %) or BPO (3 mol %) as initiators to obtain poly(N-acryloyl-N'-benzoylurea) (2) as a methanol-insoluble part in good yield (75-82%) independent of concentration. Number-average molecular weights of 2 were 2700-91,900. Furthermore, copolymerization of 1 with styrene was carried out in various feed ratios to confirm the alternating character in the copolymerization (r(1)r(2) = 0.21) and Q, e values of 1 were evaluated as 0.52, 1.16, respectively. (C) 1995 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.