PLP and MALDI-ToF determination of propagation rate coefficients of fast-polymerizing acrylates with heterocyclic side-chains: tetrahydrofurfuryl acrylate and (R)--acryloyloxy-β,β-dimethyl--butyrolactone

The PLP technique in combination with MALDI-ToF-MS was used to determine the Arrhenius plots for the propagation rate coefficients of THFA and ADBL, which polymerize much faster than alkyl acrylates. It is demonstrated that this is not due to higher propagation rate coefficients. It is shown that the temperature at which the PLP experiment brakes down increases in the order ADBL¿>¿THFA¿>¿alkyl acrylates, indicating a high extent of transfer to polymer for these monomers. Although kp decreases in the same order, the decrease of the corresponding overall polymerization rate is much larger. Therefore, the high polymerization rates of ADBL and THFA cannot be accounted for by fast propagation rates but more likely are linked to a low rate of termination