Influence of the medium on the copolymerization of methacrylic acid and methylmethacrylate to high conversions

Abstract The dependence of the relative reactivities of methacrylic acid ( r 1 ) and MMA ( r 2 ) during their copolymerization and also the rates of formation of the copolymers on the nature of the solvent (dioxane-water mixture, DMSO, acetic acid and toluene) has been found. It is shown that in all the media indicated apart from acetic acid the r 1 and r 2 values describe copolymerization to high conversions while in the acetic acid medium (starting from ∼60% conversion) deviation of the composition of the copolymer determined from the calculated is observed. A link between the character of the association of methacrylic acid in the different media and the copolymerization patterns has been established.