Oxidative copolymerization of 2-pyridylamine and aniline

A series of copolymers were easily synthesized via the chemical oxidative p olymerization of 2-pyridylamine (2PA) and aniline (AN) in an acidic aqueous medium. The yield, intrinsic viscosity, and solubility of the copolymers w ere studied through changes in the 2PA/AN molar ratio, polymerization tempe rature, oxidant, oxidant/monomer molar ratio, and polymerization medium. Th e resulting 2PA/AN copolymers were characterized by H-1 NMR, Fourier transf orm infrared, wide-angle X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric technique s. The results showed that the oxidative copolymerization from 2PA and AN w as exothermic. The resultant copolymers were amorphous and exhibited enhanc ed solubility in comparison with polyaniline. The 2PA/AN copolymers showed the highest decomposition temperature (530 degreesC), the slowest maximum-w eight-loss rate (1.2 %/min), the largest char yield (45 wt %), and the grea test degradation activation energy (65 kJ/mol) in nitrogen. The thermostabi lity of the copolymers was generally higher in nitrogen than in air. (C) 20 00 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.