X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON-SPECTROSCOPY - A NEW METHOD FOR DETERMINATION OF COPOLYMER COMPOSITION, AND MONOMER REACTIVITY RATIOS AND MONOMER SEQUENCE DISTRIBUTION THEREFROM

Copolymer compositions and reactivity ratios for the radical copolymer ization of styrene with acrylonitrile have been determined by x-ray ph otoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results obtained by this technique were confirmed by elemental as well as H-1-NMR(nuclear magnetic reson ance) analysis. The monomer sequence distributions have also been calc ulated utilizing the monomer reactivity ratio values obtained by three different techniques viz., XPS, H-1-NMR, and elemental analysis. The agreement between the monomer sequence distributions in the copolymer chain by these methods is very satisfactory. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Son s, Inc.