Investigation of microstructure of 4-vinyl pyridine–methacylonitrile copolymers by NMR spectroscopy

4-Vinyl pyridine–methacrylonitrile (V/M) copolymers of different composition were prepared by bulk polymerization using benzoyl peroxide as an initiator. The copolymer composition was determined from quantitative ¹³C{¹H}-NMR spectra. The reactivity ratios for V/M copolymer obtained from a linear Kelen-Tudos method (KT) and nonlinear error-in-variables method (EVM) are r_V = 0.79 ± 0.12, r_M = 0.38 ± 0.09 and r_V = 0.79 ± 0.13, r_M = 0.38 ± 0.07, respectively. The complete spectral assignment in term of compositional and configurational sequences of these copolymers were done with the help of distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer (DEPT), two-dimensional heteronuclear single quantum coherence spectroscopy (HSQC). Total correlated spectroscopy (TOCSY) experiment was used to assign the various three-bond ¹H-¹H couplings in the V/M copolymer. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 3232–3238, 2003