Acrylamide 2,4-pentanedione

The authors reported the generation of polymers in the presence of a large excess of oxidant (monomer oxidant 1.6 1.0 vol/vol) without any information on the mechanism of polymerization, polymer molecular weight, or role and influence of oxidant on the enzyme or reaction kinetics. Subsequently, the laccase-catalyzed polymerization of acrylamide in water without any initiator (b-diketone) at temperatures ranging from 50 to 80 °C was reported however, the reactions were efficiently carried out at room temperature with the use of laccase/b-diketone (2,4-pentanedione) initiator to produce polyacrylamide in 97% yield (Mn = 2.3 x 10 ) [24,25]. The molecular weight of the polymer in these studies was determined by size exclusion chromatography. At 50, 65, and 80 °C when the polymerization was carried out for 4h, polyacrylamides with M = 9.4,9.2, and 10 x 10, respectively, were produced with the highest yield of 70% at 65 °C. 

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