Poly methacrylic acid as Template

The decomposition of 7V-vinyi-2-oxazolidone into 2-oxazolidone acetaldehyde occurs in aqueous solution at pH 4 (Endo et al. ). At constant pH the reaction is accelerated by PMAA. Similarly, the rate of free-radical polymerization of iV-vinyl-2-oxazolidine at pH 4 is increased by the presence of PMAA. Both effects were considered to have their origin in the attachment of A-vinyl-2-oxazolidone molecules to the polymer by hydrogen bonds. 

The original interpretation by Ferguson and Shah of their data on the polymerization of acrylic acid in the presence of this polymer has been questioned by Papisov et al., who suggest that the observed rate-enhancements arise solely from the establishment of heterogeneous conditions during polymerization, and by Shavit and Cohen, who dispute the adsorption of acrylic acid on the polymer. More recent work by Ferguson and McLeod on the influence by copolymers of 

Sakaguchi et al. also investigated the free-radical polymerization of several monomers in the presence of poly(iV-vinylpyrrolidone) and reported that meth-acrylic acid under these conditions yields the isotactic polymer. This observation appears to conflict with conclusions of Challa et al. (see Section 4). 

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