ABSTRACT

The mechanism of bromination of natural rubber (NR) was studied by solution-state 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The bromination of NR was carried out at 20–50 °C with N-bromosuccinimide as the brominating agent, and the kinetic study of bromination was conducted under nitrogen atmosphere at 30–50 °C for various reaction times. The influence of bromine atom substituent on the bromination rate constant (k) also was investigated. Bromine atom content was found to be dependent upon the reaction time, indicating first-order kinetics. The activation energy of bromination of NR, calculated from the reaction rate constants, was 19.3, 5.5, and 5.8 kJ mol−1 for bromine atom linked to carbon atom with methylene proton and methylene protons, respectively.