ABSTRACT
The esters of acrylic and methacrylic acid, whose polymerization reactions are described in this chapter, are unsymmetrically substituted ethylenes of the general formula
ð1Þ
with R¼H for acrylates and R¼CH3 for methacrylates. The substituents R0 may be of a great variety: from n-alkyl chains to more complicated functional groups. In the following chapters these compounds are generally named acrylic esters, although in literature, esters of other a-substituted acrylic acids (e.g., R¼ –CN, –Cl, –C2H3) are sometimes included in this term.
