Synthesis and characterization of pyrrole and m-toluidine copolymers

A series of copolymers were synthesized by chemically oxidative polymerizat ion of pyrrole (PY) and m-toluidine (MT) in hydrochloride aqueous medium at ambient temperature. The yield, intrinsic viscosity, and solubility of the copolymers were studied by changing PY/MT molar ratio from 0/100 to 88/12. The as-prepared PY/MT copolymer bases were characterized by FT-IR. UV-VIS, H-1 NMR, DSC, and wide-angle X-ray diffraction. The results suggested that the oxidative polymerization from pyrrole and m-toluidine is exothermic an d the resulting copolymers are more easily soluble in most of the organic s olvents than polypyrrole. The polymer obtained is a real copolymer containi ng pyrrole and m-toluidine units, but the PY content calculated on the basi s of the proton NMR spectra is lower than feed PY content. (C) 2001 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.