Free-radical polymerization of guanidine acrylate and methacrylate and the conformational behavior of growing chains in aqueous solutions

Monomer salts based on acrylic acids and guanidine—guanidine acrylate and methacrylate—have been synthesized, and the kinetic features of their free-radical polymerization in aqueous solutions have been studied. When polymerization is carried out in organic solvents (methanol, ethanol, or dioxane), the system is heterogeneous over the entire range of monomer concentrations. In aqueous solutions, the reaction systems are homogeneous only at small initial monomer concentrations (less than 1.30 and 0.40 mol/l for guanidine acrylate and methacrylate, respectively; the ammonium persulfate concentration is 5 × 10−3 mol/l; pH ∼ 6.5; 60°C). At higher concentrations, microheterogeneity appears from small conversions (∼1%). This phenomenon is associated with the coiling of growing polymer chains owing to associative interactions between guanidine groups occurring in the monomer solution and carboxyl groups of (meth)acrylate polymer units. In aqueous solutions over the entire range of monomer concentrations (0.2–2.5 mol/l), the kinetic orders are the same as in the case of corresponding acrylic acids. The effects of composition of reaction solutions on changes in the initial rate of polymerization and the conformational behavior of the systems under study have been ascertained.