Copolymerization and copolymers of N-(2,4,6-tribromophenyl)maleimide with methyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate

N-(2,4,6-Tribromophenyi)maleimide (TBPMI) was copolymerized with methyl acrylate (MA) or methyl methacrylate (MMA) in toluene solution using 2,2′-azoisobutyronitrile as free-radical initiation. The copolymerization reactivity ratios were found to be for the system TBPMI/MA r₁ = 0,095 ± 0,045 (TBPMI) and r₂ = 2,17 ± 0,142 (MA) and for the system TBPMI/MMA r₁ = 0,037 ± 0,042 (TBPMI) and r₂ = 4,32 ± 0,230 (MMA); Q and e values were also calculated. The initial rate of copolymerization, R_p, for TBPMI/MA sharply decreases as the content of TBPMI in the monomer mixture increases but the composition of the feed does not have a strong influence on R_p for the TBPMI/MMA copolymerization system. The course of copolymerization to high conversion is characterized by an increase of conversion up to a mole fraction of TBPMI of 0,7 in the monomer mixture, when MA was used as the comonomer. An opposite behaviour was found with MMA. Its copolymers show a considerable increase of thermal stability as well as of the glass transition temperatures with increasing TBPMI content.