Vinyltrimethylsilane-co-methylmethacrylate copolymers. Synthesis and reactivity ratios

In order to obtain information about the copolymerization process of vinyltrimethyl silane with comonomers of different chemical structure, copolymers containing vinyltrimethylsilane and methyl methacrylate at different compositions were synthesized and characterized. Comparison of the reactivity ratios of the resulting copolymers with those containing N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone and 2-vinylpyridine previously reported and other related comonomers with different chemical structure allows us to establish some reactivity structure relationship and a generalization for these systems. The monomer reactivity ratios r1 and r2 (MRR) were estimated by using the classical linear fitting procedures and also through a computer program based on a nonlinear minimization algorithm, starting from the r1 and r2 values obtained by the former procedures.