Photopolymerization of Ricinodendron heudelotii oil and methyl methacrylate in presence and absence of iron(I (TM) II) oxalato complex as photoinitiator

In this work, the photopolymerization of Ricinodendron heudelotii (R. heudelotii) oil and methyl methacrylate in presence and absence of iron(III) tris(oxalato) ferrate(III) tetrahydrate (Fe[Fe(C2O4)(3)]center dot 4H(2)O) (A) in N,N'-dimethylformamide under UV radiation of 254 nm at 40 A degrees C has been studied. The rate of polymerization, R (P), varies linearly with the inverse of [A] up to 6.5 x 10(-4) mol L-1 and decreases above this concentration with the increase of [A]. The photoinitiator-free polymerization and polymerization in presence of the Fe(III) photoinitiator exhibit similar polymerization behavior. Thermal analysis of poly(R. heudelotii oil-co-MMA) was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis method. The thermal analysis was performed at five different heating rates. The poly(R. heudelotii oil-co-MMA) synthesized in the presence of the photoinitiator exhibits three stages of decomposition while two stages of decomposition pattern are prominent in photoinitiator-free polymers and for both polymers the main decomposition occurs at temperature range 300-500 A degrees C. The apparent activation energy (E (a)) of the decomposition has been calculated by three non-isothermal methods of Flynn-Wall-Ozawa, Kissinger and modified Coats-Redfern.