DETERMINATION OF THE ABSOLUTE RATE CONSTANTS IN THE RADICAL POLYMERIZATION OF n-BUTYL ACRYLATE AND CYCLOHEXYL ACRYLATE.

An attempt was made to resolve discrepancies in the literature concerning whether the steric effect is important in the radical polymerization of n-butyl acrylate. The rotating sector technique was employed on n-butyl acrylate and cyclohexyl acrylate. It was concluded that acrylates which have no methyl group in the alpha -carbon position have a remarkable rate-enhancing effect in comparison with methacrylates in radical polymerization. Moreover, variations in the rates of polymerization for acrylate monomers were mainly attributed to the change of k//p values.