Mechanistic study on polymerization of acrylamide induced by cyclohexanonebased on the interaction between the carbonyl and amide groups

Homopolymerization of acrylamiide (AAm) initiated with cyclohexanone (CHn) was carried out in TT-IF at 75 degrees C under argon atmosphere. It was fou nd that the rate of polymerization (Rp) can be expressed by Rp = k[AAm](1.6 )[CHn](0.6). The polymerization was confirmed to proceed through a radical- initiated mechanism from the resulting polymerization equation. The effects of temperature of the Rp were discussed in the temperature range of 70-80 degrees C. The overall activation energy (Ea) was estimated to be 138.9 kJ/ mol. 2,6-Dimethylcyclohexnone (DMCHn) was also applied instead of CHn. The acceleration effect of DMCHn on the polymerization was higher than that of CHn in the case of AAm, but was lower in the case of methyl methacrylate un der the same conditions. No effect of CHn on the polymerization of N,N-dime thylacrylamide was found under these conditions. The participation of-NH2 i n the complexation of a monomer with CHn is proposed to induce this radical polymerization.