Thermal behaviour of the copolymers of acrylonitrile with methyl acrylate and itaconic acid or its derivatives

Itaconic acid monoesters and monoamides, such as 2-carbamoylmethacrylic acid, N-octyl-2-carbamoylmethacrylic acid and 2-methoxy- carbonylmethacrylic acid, smoothed the peak of heat release upon the thermal cyclization of acrylonitrile copolymers with commensurable effectiveness, and they can serve as competitive substitutes for itaconic acid in the synthesis of carbon fiber precursors.