Question
Will you prefer to polymerize acrylo-nitrile under anionic or cationic polymerization conditions? Explain your choice.
Solution
We will prefer to polymerise acrylonitrile (CH2 = CHCN) under anionic polymerization conditions.
In this case, the active centre of the propagating species is negatively charged. Hence, it occurs easily with monomers containing electron-withdrawing groups such as nitrile.
