Anion-exchange resins of high capacity have been obtained by the polymerisation of allylarnrnonium chlorides. The exchange rates of different resins have been compared by the measurement of electrical conductivity.
IntroductionThe polymerisation of unsaturated quaternary ammonium bromides has been studied by Butler and his co-workersl-ll who found that those monomers which contained three or more :V-ally1 groups per molecule could be converted to insoluble resins. At first, low capacities were r e p~r t e d~-~ for resins of this type. The yield of insoluble polymer from tetra-allylammonium bromide varied from 66 to 87%, and the capacity was only 2 6 6 1 % of the theoretical,s but in a later paper,I0 Butler & Angelo reported that when the capacities were measured by another method, the values were 96-100% of theoretical. The fraction of the theoretical capacity obtained by the original method was then claimed to be a measure of the rate of exchange, although rate experiments reported earlier by Butler et aL5 had shown that equilibrium was reached in 2 min. or less in the titration used for the determination of capacities.In this laboratory a water-soluble monomer was required for the making of paper-based anion-exchange membranes, and the polymerisation of tetra-allylammonium bromide was investigated for this purpose. Contrary to the report of Butler & Bunch,' it was found that aqueous solutions of the monomer could be polymerised with persulphates. Ammonium persulphate was preferred as the initiator, because it is more soluble than potassium persulphate and less volatile than t-butyl hydroperoxide. Because allyl monomers polymerise more sluggishly than