Organotin polymers-V. Binary and ternary copolymerization reactions of tributyltin acrylate and methacrylate with vinyl acetate and N-vinylpyrrolidone

Copolymerization reactions were carried out in solution at 70°C in the presence of a free radical initiator, and the copolymer composition in each case was determined from tin analysis. The monomer reactivity ratios for the copolymerization reactions of tributyltin acrylate with vinyl acetate and N -vinylpyrrolidone were found to be: r 1 = 2.567, r 2 = 0.006 and r 1 = 0.513, r 2 = 0.610, respectively. Also, the copolymerization parameters of tributyltin methacrylate with vinyl acetate and N -vinylpyrrolidone were: r 1 = 4.408, r 2 = 0.017 and r 1 = 3.160, r 2 = 0.438, respectively. Four selected terpolymer feed compositions involving tributyltin acrylate or methacrylate with vinyl acetate or methyl methacrylate and N -vinylpyrrolidone or acrylonitrile, were polymerized to low conversion and the terpolymer composition in each case was calculated from tin and nitrogen analyses. The variations of terpolymer composition with conversion fit the experimental results over a wide range of conversion. The structure of the prepared co- and terpolymers was investigated by i.r. spectroscopy.