Synthesis and Characterization of Functional Monomer N‐Vinyl Formamide (NVF)

Abstract N ‐vinyl formamide (NVF) is successfully synthesized by using the intermediate polystyrene maleic anhydride ester. The prepared NVF owns high purity and the diacid as a by‐product of synthesis can be reused. N ‐ a ‐hydroxyethyl formamide (NHEF) is synthesized by using acetaldehyde and formamide as raw materials in the presence of basic catalyst. Acetaldehyde is purified by distillation under reduced pressure and dried with anhydrous magnesium sulfate. Low molecular weight styrene/maleic anhydride copolymer (SMA) is synthesized by the reaction of styrene and maleic anhydride in the presence of benzoyl peroxide initiator using acetone as solvent. The intermediate polystyrene maleic anhydride ester (NHEF–ADDUCT) is synthesized with SMA and NHEF as raw materials. Finally, the obtained NHEF–ADDUCT is cracked and the target product NVF is isolated and purified. The NVF is characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography (GC), 1 H‐NMR, and 13 C‐NMR. The purity of NVF is 86.7% as measured by iodometric method and GC internal standard method, indicating the small amount of impurity formamide in it.