Radical copolymerization of trans-stilbene, maleic anhydride, and 1-heptene

The radical copolymerization of a three-component donor-acceptor monomer sy stem composed of trans-stilbene-maleic anhydride-1-heptene was studied. It was found that the composition of ternary copolymers versus monomer feed co mposition shows an unusual pattern: the fraction of maleic anhydride in the copolymer remains virtually unchanged (close to 50 mol %), whereas the cop olymer is enriched with trans-stilbene as compared to 1-heptene. This findi ng is interpreted in terms of intermolecular complex formation. It is sugge sted that ternary copolymerization proceeds as an alternating copolymerizat ion of two complexes: maleic anhydride-trans-stilbene and maleic anhydride- 1-heptene.