Abstract: It is necessary to find out an inhibitor to slow down the spontaneous polymerization of acrylamide(AM)and its deriva-tives because it often occurs in the practical application. The in-hibiting effects of five compounds,such as 1,4-benzoqhinone,o-phenylenediamine,1,4-naphthoquinone,phenothiazine,and
p-tert-butyl pyrocatechol on radical polymerization of AM,which was initiated by ammonium persulfate in presence of ni-trogen gas,have been investigated by precipitation method. Also the influence of temperature and the quantities of inhibitors on the reaction system has been discussed. Results indicate that the phenothiazine has strong capability to inhibit the radical poly-merization of AM and has a little effect on the molecular weight of the products.

Key words: spontaneous polymerization, inhibitor, acry-lamide, radical reaction, inhibition, phenothiazine