T. Agarwal *, K.A. Gupta **, M.G.H. Zaidi * COMPARATIVE INVESTIGATION OF VINYL POLYMERIZATION UNDER MICROWAVE IRRADIATION (*Department of Chemistry, G.B.Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar, India, ** Department of Chemistry, Hindu Post Graduate College Moradabad, M.J.P. Rohailkhand University, India) e-mail: mgh_zaidi@yahoo.com Microwave (MW) assisted polymerization of acrylonitrile, methyl methacrylate, N-vinyl pyrrolidone and glycidyl methacrylate was investigated and their progress has been compared with reference to MW powers ranging 25-100W. <...> The polymerization afforded increasing monomer conversion (%C) up to 50W resulting in polymers with enhanced rheoviscosity, thermal stability and particles size ranging 4.98-100.12 nm The polymers were characterized through Uv-vis, FT-IR, 1H-NMR spectra, thermal analysis and AFM. <...> Key words: Microwave irradiation, Vinyl polymerization, Spectra, Microscopy and Thermal analysis 1. <...> In this context, over past few decades, the application of microwave (MW) as a source for the synthesis of organic compounds and polymeric materials is expected to offer many advantages, including localized heating with substantial reduction of reaction time, reduction of the amount of wastes generated, energy savings, and reduction of CO2 emissions. <...> Although many studies have been conducted on Mw assisted synthesis, there are few examples of its practical use [1-3]. <...> In current polymer science, the use of MW assisted polymer synthesis has been widely investigated and a series of reviews were appeared in recent years [1-5]. <...> Most of such reviews highlight the successful applications of MW towards execution of controlled radical polymerizations such as free radical polymerization [6-10], co-polymerization [11], nitroxide mediated polymerization [12]. <...> Most of such polymerization reactions are conducted under domestic microwave ovens [6, 13-14]. <...> Literature survey reveals that although MW assisted polymerization of acrylonitrile has been conducted in presence of cobalt complexes as accelerator [13] and formation of polystyrene beads through free radical suspension polymerization reactions [14], no efforts are made towards investigation of MW assisted polymerization of the proposed monomers viz., acrylonitrile (AN), methyl methacrylate (MMA), Nvinyl pyrrolidone (NVP) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) in presence of 2, 2’-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) initiator. <...> Herein we have <...>