Radical polymerisation of ethyl acrylate in the presence of molecular oxygen

Oxygen as a promoter of radical polymerisation of ethyl acrylate was studied in the aqueous medium. Cu2+ was chosen as the catalyst for the ascorbic acid (AA)—02 redox reaction, constituting a three component initiating system. The rate of polymerisation, Rp, was observed to increase, remain constant and then decrease with increasing [Cu2+]. Rp increased with [O2] upto ∼ 6.5 × 10−4M and thereafter remained constant. [AA] > 1.2 × 10−3M did not influence the rate. Rp always increased with monomer [M] at fixed [Cu2+], [O2] and [AA]. However, the order with respect to [M] increased with increasing [Cu2+]. The rate of polymerisation increased with ionic strength, μ and decreased with [H2SO4]. There was an initial increase in Rp followed by a decrease with increasing temperature. Conditions were identified where Rp depended only on [Cu2+] and [M] or [M] only for industrial exploitation. Kinetic chain length of the polymers obtained under various experimental conditions were determined viscometrically.