Methylamino radicals, reaction

Dimethylamino. There are many more known sources of this radical than of the methylamino radical. Photolysis of dimethyl- and trimethylamine yields the radical by Reactions 10 and 11... 

Proposals for the mechanism of PPS formation include nucleophilic aromatic substitution (Sj Ar) (2radical-cation (27), and radical-anion processes (28,29). Some of the interesting features of the polymerization are that the initial reaction of the sodium sulfide-hydrate with NMP affords a soluble NaSH-sodium 4-(N-methylamino)butanoate mixture, and that polymers of higher molecular weight than pi edicted by the Caruthers equation are produced at low conversions. Mechanistic elucidation has been hampered by the harsh polymerization conditions and poor solubility of PPS in common organic solvents. A detailed mechanistic study of model compounds by Fahey provided strong evidence that the ionic S]s Ar mechanism predominates (30). Some of the evidence supporting the S s(Ar mechanism was the selective formation of phenylthiobenzenes, absence of disulfide production, kinetics behavior, the lack of influence of radical initiators and inhibitors, relative rate Hammet values, and activation parameters consistent with nucleophilic aromatic substitution. The radical-anion process was not completely discounted and may be a minor competing mechanism. 

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