Hydrazone initiators for vinyl polymerizations

Abstract

A series of hydrazones were prepared and tested for their ability to act as free‐radical initiators for vinyl monomers. The most active initiators were the tertiary butyl hydrazones of aromatic, aliphatic ketones. The most reactive vinyl monomers were acrylate‐type monomers, with methacrylate‐type monomers being somewhat less reactive. When the most reactive hydrazone initiators, such as compound 1, were added to ambient‐temperature solutions of acrylate monomers, such as aqueous sodium acrylate or aqueous acrylamide, polymerizations to hard gels occured within 1 min. In some cases of vinyl polymerizations, these hydrazone initiators can act as low‐temperature alternatives to redox initiators. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 39: 1391–1402, 2001