The Polymer and Colloids Group
For several years beginning in the late 1980's, we collaborated with K. O'Driscoll and with R. Gilbert on free radical polymerization kinetics, using a pulsed laser technique to determine the propagation rate constant kp for homopolymer and copolymer formation. [see Macromolecules, 22, 2785-2788 (1989)] While the data generated are widely cited, the most interesting result was that kp for acrylamide decreased as the temperature was raised. [see Macromolecules, 23, 5161-5163 (1990)] Acrylamide has an unusually fast polymerization rate, and our results imply that this enhanced rate involves monomer association in water that is disrupted at higher temperature.