Synthesis and characterization of terpolymer of styrene, acrylonitrile and vinyl acetate initiated by triphenylbismuthonium 1,2,3,4- tetraphenylcyclopentadienylide

The radical terpolymerzation, consisting of two electron donating monomers, viz. styrene and vinyl acetate, with one electron accepting monomer, viz. acrylonitrile, using triphenylbismuthonium1,2,3,4- tetraphenylcyclopentadienylide as the radical initiator and dioxan as diluent at 700C for 90 min., follows ideal kinetics, with an overall activation energy of 22 kJ/mol. The 1H-NMR spectrum of the terpolymer showed the peaks at 7.15 to 7.28 δ because of phenyl group of styrene and at 2.06 δ because of acetoxy group of vinyl acetate. The bands at 2306 cm-1, 3056 cm-1, and 1676 cm-1 in FTIR spectrum of terpolymer, evidence the presence of cyano, phenyl and acetoxy group, respectively. The terpolymer composition was estimated to calculate the values of reactivity ratios as r1 (AN)= 0.0066, and r2(styrene + VA)= 0.0152 by the Kelen-Tüdos method.