FEATURES OF THE ACID-CATALYZED HYDROLYSIS OF MONO- AND POLY(ETHYLENE GLYCOL) METHACRYLATES

Abstract Hydrolysis of water-soluble industrially important mono- and poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylates catalyzed by sulfuric acid and organic monomeric acids (methacrylic and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid) has been studied in aqueous solutions. Chemical stability of the methacrylates in dilute solutions was found to be independent of the length of ethoxylated fragments. Structurization of the studied solutions and the increase in concentration of hydrogen ions in concentrated solutions of the ethoxylated esters were shown to be the reason for the revealed unusual influence of the initial monomer concentration on the hydrolysis rate. The pronounced self-acceleration effect was observed for the methacrylic acid catalyzed reaction with increase in conversion.