Template polymerization of sodium methacrylate onto poly(allylamine) hydrochloride

The radical polymerization in aqueous solution of sodium methacrylate in the presence of poly(allylamine) hydrochloride as a template was studied using dilatometry. The properties of the polyelectrolyte complexes resulting from these template polymerizations were investigated and compared with those of the poly(sodium methacrylate)/poly(allylamine) hydrochloride complexes obtained by simple mixing of the preformed polymers. The kinetic study provides evidence for the presence of a strong template effect and indicates that the polymerization occurs by a zip mechanism. The results of the different characterization analyses have shown that the complexes obtained by template polymerization have a more ordered structure than the complexes prepared by mixing the two polymers.