Lactam Polymerization

After a survey of the present knowledge of the reaction mechanism of initiation and chain growth in the cationic, anionic, as well as hydrolytic polymerization, a detailed discussion is given of side reactions accompanying all types of lactam polymerizations. The side reactions play an important role in the anionic and cationic polymerizations and lead both to the decay of active species and to the formation of irregular structures inside the polymer molecules.