Kinetics and Modeling of Aqueous Phase Radical Homopolymerization of 3-(Methacryloylaminopropyl)trimethylammonium Chloride and its Copolymerization with Acrylic Acid

Abstract

The radical homopolymerization kinetics of 3-(methacryloylaminopropyl) trimethylammonium chloride (MAPTAC) and its batch copolymerization with nonionized acrylic acid (AA) in aqueous solution are investigated and modeled. The drift in monomer composition is measured during copolymerization by in situ NMR over a range of initial AA molar fractions and monomer weight fractions up to 0.35 at 50 °C. The copolymer becomes enriched in MAPTAC for monomer mixtures containing up to 60 mol% MAPTAC, but is enriched in AA for MAPTAC-rich mixtures; this azeotropic behavior is dependent on initial monomer content, as electrostatic interactions from the cationic charges influence the system reactivity ratios. Models for MAPTAC homopolymerization and AA-MAPTAC copolymerization are developed to represent the rates of monomer conversion and comonomer composition drifts over the complete range of experimental conditions.