A Convenient Method To Measure Monomer Reactivity Ratios. Application to Synthesis of Polymeric Biomaterials Featuring Intrinsic Radiopacity

The properties of co- and terpolymers (physical, mechanical, chemical, biocompatibility, etc.) strongly depend on their microstructural details. In the course of our research work on biomaterials that feature intrinsic radiopacity, we became interested in the microstructural details of co- and terpolymers of methyl methacrylate (MMA), 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), and 2-(2‘-iodobenzoyl)ethyl methacrylate (1) or 2-(4‘-iodobenzoyl)ethyl methacrylate (2). A new method, based on 1H-NMR at 400 MHz, was used to study the copolymerization reactions 1 + HEMA, 1 + MMA, 2 + HEMA, and 2 + MMA. This method was found to be convenient, fast, and accurate, and it is put forward that this approach can also be applied to study other copolymerization reactions. The results, obtained with the error-in-variables method (EVM), are as follows:  1 + HEMA, r1 = 1.09 ± 0.14, rHEMA = 1.12 ± 0.06; 1 + MMA, r1= 0.54 ± 0.12, rMMA = 0.67 ± 0.06; 2 + HEMA, r2 = 2.18 ± 0.72, rHEMA = 2.29 ± 0.38; 2 + MMA, r2 = 0.93 ± 0.32, rMMA = 0...