THE APPLICABILITY OF COPOLYMER COMPOSITION AND SEQUENCE DISTRIBUTION DATA TO THE MECHANISTIC STUDY OF THE ALTERNATING COPOLYMERIZATION OF MALEIC-ANHYDRIDE WITH SUBSTITUTED STYRENE DERIVATIVES

The composition and sequence distribution of copolymers of maleic anhy dride (MA) with p-methoxystyrene (p-MST) and P-chlorostyrene (p-CST) P repared in ethyl methyl ketone at 50 +/- 0,1-degrees-C were analysed u sing C-13 DEPT NMR techniques, in order to compare the applicability o f composition and sequence distribution data to the study of the mecha nism of copolymerisation using the terminal, penultimate and complex-p articipation models. In the case of the strongly alternating copolymer isation of p-MST with MA, the comparison of models on the basis of seq uence distribution data was found to be better at separating each mode l in terms of its applicability, with the complex-participation model providing the best fit to the data. In the case of the less strongly a lternating copolymerisation of p-CST with MA, neither method of compar ison could clearly distinguish between the penultimate and complex-par ticipation models.