Radiation-induced and electroinitiated polymerization of allylbenzene

radiation-induced and electroinitiated polymerization of allylbenzene has been investigated. Radiation-induced polymerization at room temperature was found to give mainly dimers and trimers with a maximum yield of 5%. Electroinitiated polymerization of the monomer yielded insoluble polymer films on the surface of the anode together with low molecular weight polymers in the bulk solution. The effects of temperature and monomer concentration on the rate of electroinitiated polymerization were also studied. The decrease in monomer concentration during electrionitiated polymerization was studied by taking cyclic voltammograms of the electrolysis solution. An apparent activation energy of 5.5 kJ mol-1 was found for the electroinitiated polymerization. The polymers were characterized by taking infra-red and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. The polymerization proceeds via double bond addition of monomer together with isomerization of allylbenzene into β-methylstyrene. (author)