Hydrochloric Acid → 2-Methylidenebutanedioic acid--prop-2-enoic acid (1/1)

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

Acrylic acid (105.27 g, 1.4609 moles), itaconic acid (21.12 g, 0.1623 mole), Wako V-50 (0.4403 g, 1.623 millimole), and 812 ml of water, which has been acidified to pH 2.0 with hydrochloric acid, are added to a 2 liter three-necked round-bottomed flask. The necks are fitted with a thermometer, a stopper, and a gas inlet/outlet adapter capable of bubbling gas through a liquid in the flask and venting it. The solution is deaerated by passage of nitrogen gas and is then placed under an atmosphere of argon. The solution is heated to 55° C. and maintained at this temperature for 15 hours. The viscous solution of copolymer is cooled to ambient temperature and is freeze dried to give 121.57 g of poly(acrylic acid-itaconic acid) copolymer as a colorless solid. The mass average molecular weight, as determined by low angle laser light scattering on a dialyzed portion in 0.2 Molar sodium chloride in water (refractive index=1.3344, dn /dc =0.1683), is 821,600.

Provenance & Evidence