An alternating copolymer of maleimide and atropic acid with narrow molecular weight distribution prepared by radical mechanism

Three basic conditions for preparation of alternating copolymer with narrow molecular weight distribution were derived from the element kinetic equati ons of binary radical copolymerization. Using maleimide (MI) and atropic ac id (ATA) as model monomer palm and dioxane as the solvent the alternating c opolymer with molecular weight distribution in the range of 1.09-1.20 was p repared successfully by charger transfer complex (CTC) mechanism in the pre sence of benzoyl peroxide at 85 degrees C. The monomer reactivity ratioes r (1)(MI) = 0.05 +/- 0.01 and r(2)(ATA) = 0.03 +/- 0.02 were measured. The al ternating copolymerization was carried out through formation of a contact-t ype CTC and then alternating addition of MI and ATA monomers. The molecular weight of the copolymers is nearly independent of the feed ratio in a larg e range and the polymerization rate dropped with an increase in ATA in feed ratio.