Vinyl polymerization by metal complexes, 17. Effect of nitriles on the vinyl polymerization initiated by imidazole-copper (II) complex

Polymerization of vinyl monomers initiated by the imidazole-copper(II) complex was studied in dimethyl sulfoxide solution. Different from the case of acrylonitrile, the polymerization of styrene and methyl methacrylate did not proceed, even in the presence of various sort of nitriles. From these findings and the copolymerization behaviour of acrylonitrile with styrene and methyl methacrylate, together with the spectroscopic data, the presence of acrylonitrile monomer is essential for generating active species to initiate the polymerization.