Chemical oxidative polymerization of toluidine(o-

m-

p-) in the acid solution has been studied

and soluble poly-o-toluidine(PoT) and poly-m-toluidine(PmT) are characterized by IR

1H NMR and elemntal analysis. It is shown that the pH value of the polymerization solution affects not only the colour and yield

but also the structure and properties of polymers obtained. The o- and m-toluidine have sinilar polymerization behavior in terms of its dependence on oxidant concentration

but the p-toluidine does not. IR spectrum reveals the existence of 1

2

4-substituted benzene(B)

(B)NH(B)

and quinone ring(Q)in the mole-cular chain of neutral PoT and PmT. The mole ratio of B to Q is about 3:1 according to 1H-NMR and elemental analysis. Based on the above results

a possible polymerization mechanism of toluidine(o-

m-

p-) in the acid solution is proposed.