Copolymers of maleic anhydride with monooctyl itaconate. Synthesis, characterization and viscometric behaviour

Maleic anhydride-monooctyl itaconate copolymer was synthesized by radical polymerization. The viscometric behaviour was studied in dilute solution. The copolymer was fractioned and characterized by size exclusion chromatography membrane osmometry and viscometry. The classical viscometric relationships were established in several solvents. The conformational and thermodynamic parameters K_θ and B were evaluated from viscosity data in good solvents using the Stockmayer Fixman, Berry and Kamide-Moore extrapolations. The rigidity parameters σ and C_∞ show flexibility of the polymer chain, due to the incorporation of the maleic anhydride units when the copolymer is compared with the corresponding homopolymer poly(mono-n-octyl itaconate).