Hydrochloric Acid → Acrylamide

Participants

Reaction Steps

A water-soluble copolymer of acrylonitrile, acrylamide and ethylene sulfonic acid was prepared in the following way: 57.5 g of an aqueous 47% solution of sodium ethylene sulfonate, stabilized against polymerization by 0.2% sodium nitrite, was destabilized by adding 3 g urea and acidified with concentrated hydrochloric acid to pH 2. The developing gases were repeatedly drawn off. 7.1 g Acrylamide and 13.6 ml acrylonitrile were added and the monomer mixture was dissolved in 76 ml of oxygen-free water. 1 ml of a 5% sodium pyrosulfite solution and the same amount of ammonium persulfate were stirred in, and the somewhat turbid solution was left standing under carbon dioxide at room temperature for 24 hours. The viscous solution thus obtained was poured into 2 liters of anhydrous ethanol. The white coagulate was purified by dissolving it in water and again precipitating it in anhydrous ethanol, broken to small pieces and dried at 70° C.

Provenance & Evidence