Synthesis and Characterization and Properities of Copolymers of Alkylitaconates with Styrene

Abstract

The aim of the present work was to study the copolymerisation of styrene with alkyl itaconates having long alkyl side chain. In order to study the effect of structure on properties of styrene: alkyl itaconate copolymers, a systematic study was carried out using, hexyl itaconate (HI), octyl itaconate (01), decyl itaconate (DI), dodecyl itaconate (DDI), tetradecyl itaconate (TDI), cetyl itaconate (CI) and stearyl itaconate (SI). The thesis has been divided into five chapters. Chapter I deals with the general introduction and literature survey on copolymerisation of alkyl itaconate copolymers with styrene. It also gives an account of the effect of structure of copolymers on thermal behaviour. The scope of the present work, objectives and plan of the thesis have also been described in this chapter. The synthesis, characterisation of alkyl itaconate and copolymerisation and their kinetics studies are described in Chapter II of the thesis. Direct esterification of itaconic acid with the corresponding alcohols in the presence of p-toluene sulphonic acid was used to prepare alkyl itaconate monomer. Structural characterisation was done by FTIR and 1H-NMR spectroscopic techniques. Bulk / solution copolymerisation of alkyl itaconates with styrene was carried out in N2 atmoshpere at 60°C using 1% (w/w) azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator. newline