Johannes Barth

EPR Analysis of n-Butyl Acrylate Radical Polymerization.

Via electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, concentrations of secondary propagating radicals (SPRs) and tertiary mid-chain radicals (MCRs) in n-butyl acrylate solution polymerization were measured. The EPR spectrum is dominated by the 4-line spectrum of SPRs at -50 °C and by the 7-line spectrum of MCRs at +70 °C. At intermediate temperatures, a third spectral component is seen, which is assigned to an MCR species with restricted rotational mobility. The MCR components are produced by 1,5-hydrogen shift (backbiting) of SPRs. The measured ratio of MCRs to SPRs allows for estimating the rate coefficient k pt for monomer addition to a mid-chain radical. For 70 °C, k pt is obtained to be 65.5 L · mol(-1)  · s(-1) .

SP–PLP–EPR Investigations into the Chain-Length-Dependent Termination of Methyl Methacrylate Bulk Polymerization

Termination kinetics of methyl methacrylate (MMA) bulk polymerization has been studied via the single pulsed laser polymerization-electron paramagnetic resonance method. MMA-d(8) has been investigated to enhance the signal-to-noise quality of microsecond time-resolved measurement of radical concentration. Chain-length-dependent termination rate coefficients of radicals of identical size, k ti,i, are reported for 5-70 °C and up to i = 100. k ti,i decreases according to the power-law expression

Termination and Transfer Kinetics of Butyl Acrylate Radical Polymerization Studied via SP-PLP-EPR

k_{\rm t}^{i,i} = k_{\rm t}^{{\rm 1,1}} \cdot i^{ - \alpha }

Chain-Length-Dependent Termination in n-Butyl Methacrylate and tert-Butyl Methacrylate Bulk Homopolymerizations Studied via SP-PLP-ESR

. At 5 °C, k(t) for two MMA radicals of chain-length unity is k t1,1 = (5.8 ± 1.3) · 10(8)  L · mol(-1)  · s(-1) . The associated activation energy and power-law exponent are: E(A) (k t1,1) ≈ 9 ± 2 kJ · mol(-1) and α ≈ 0.63 ± 0.15, respectively.