The autowave regimes of cryopolymerization

The autowave cryopolymerization of various monomers in the crystalline and glassy state can be initiated at a temperature in the range from 4.2 to 77 K by local brittle fracture in the samples preliminarily radiolyzed at the same temperature. The chemical reaction, initiated by microfracture in the solid sample, leads to development of the further fracture process as a res ult of the temperature and density gradients arising in the course of the r eaction. This factor, in turn, stimulates the reaction. Thus, a kind of the mechanoenergetic feedback chain is realized in the system studied. The mai n results of investigations of the autowave cryopolymerization processes ar e illustrated by data on the homopolymerization of acetaldehyde and cyclope ntadiene and the copolymerization of acetaldehyde with hydrogen cyanide. Th e concept of the self-organized autowave process can be used to explain the "cold" chemical evolution of matter in the Universe.