Synthesis and characterization of maleic anhydride-cyclic olefin alternating copolymers

The relative rates of varying Nb/Nb-TBE monomer feed ratios were evaluated by using real-time monitoring via in-situ FTIR spectroscopy of alternating copolymerizations of MA with Nb and Nb-TBE. Pseudo first order kinetic plots constructed from the in-situ FTIR absorbance data indicated that the rate of reaction is a strong function of the Nb/Nb-TBE ratio and decreased with increasing Nb-TBE.