Note Copolymerization of Styrene with Maleic Anhydride Initiated by L-Ascorbic Acid

Abstract

It is well known that maleic anhydride (MAH) behaves as an electron acceptor and forms charge-transfer complexes with donor monomers such as styrene (ST) [1,2], divinyl ether [3], and some of other olefms [4–61. The charge-transfer polymerization of ST with MAH has been extensively studied [1,7–11]. On the other hand, L-ascorbic acid (L-Asc) in combination with a suitable oxidants proved to be an efficient redox initiator for various vinyl polymerizations. Misra et al. [12] showed that the reduction of peroxides by ascorbic acid follows a chain mechanism with ascorbate and other free radicals as intermediates. Thus, we can expect that such an electron donor might initiate the copolymerization of MAH with ST.