Interfacial polymerization of n‐alkyl α‐cyanoacrylate homologs

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Abstract
The n‐alkyl α‐cyanoacrylates from methyl through n‐octyl exhibit a reverse order of polymerization rate on biological substrates compared to that on water. On water, the lower homologs spread and polymerize rapidly, whereas the higher homologs spread but polymerize slowly. On biological substrates, the lower homologs do not spread or spread slightly and the higher homologs exhibit large spreadabilities and very rapid polymerization rates. Determination of the spreading coefficients for these systems by using the monomers or model compounds confirm the observed spreadabilities. It is proposed that the increased rate of polymerization of the higher homologs on biological substrates may be due to increased catalyst concentrations on these surfaces or to the solubilization of the higher homologs at the interface, making the catalyst sites more available to the monomer. The suggestion is made that if the liquid monomers spread and orient on the substrate and subsequently polymerize, the polymers will maintain the orientation. If such is the case, a technique is available for preparing stereospecific vinyl polymers which may have different spatial configurations depending on the polarity of the liquid substrate upon which they have been allowed to spread and polymerize.

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