Abstract
ALL addition polymerizations are exothermic and involve a decrease in entropy. The heat of reaction (q = ΔH) and the decrease in entropy (—ΔS) per mole of monomer polymerized really refer to the values of these quantities appropriate to the propagation step, at the concentration of monomer (= [m1]) prevailing in the system*. We may write this reaction conventionally as
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References
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DAINTON, F., IVIN, K. Reversibility of the Propagation Reaction in Polymerization Processes and its Manifestation in the Phenomenon of a ‘Ceiling Temperature'. Nature 162, 705–707 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162705a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162705a0
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