Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance studies on the microstructure of the copolymer of vinylidene cyanide and methyl methacrylate

The microstructure of radically polymerized vinylidene cyanide-methyl methacrylate copolymer was studied by 125 MHz 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (n.m.r.) spectroscopy and was compared with that of vinylidene cyanide-vinyl acetate copolymer. The latter shows high piezoelectricity, while the former has low piezoelectricity. It was found that the microstructures of both copolymers were not largely different from each other; namely, both have highly alternating sequences with a non-stereoregular structure. Possible origins of piezoelectricity were discussed for these copolymers based on the 13C n.m.r. data.