Investigation of infrared calibration methods for application to the study of methyl methacrylate polymerization.

Infrared spectroscopy has been used to monitor the polymerization of methyl methacrylate. Concentrations of methyl methacrylate in the reaction mixture were determined by use of three calibration methods. Classical quantitative analysis was used to measure the height of the stretching vibration bands of the vinyl group at 1639 cm(-1). A calibration procedure using the considerably higher intensity of the C = O stretching vibration band of the carbonyl ester group at 1725 cm(-1) seemed useful only for high concentrations of methyl methacrylate, i.e. at the beginning of reaction, because this band overlaps that of poly(methyl methacrylate). Use of second-derivative spectra and measuring their values at 1725 cm(-1) enabled estimation of ten times lower concentrations of methyl methacrylate the calibration using the band from the vinyl group.