The free‐radical polymerization of acrylamide initiated with ceric sulfate in the presence of amino acids

Polymerization of acrylamide initiated with ceric (IV) ion in the presence of methionine, phenylalanine, serine and aspartic acid was investigated in sulfuric acid solution. Maximum yield was obtained at 70°C and sulfuric acid concentration of 0.16 mol/1. Both conductometric titration and FT‐IR results showed that the resulting polymers contained carboxy end groups. According to these findings and previous studies in this field, a suitable polymerization mechanism was proposed.