The course of emulsion polymerization of vinyl acetate using redox systems of different oxidizing agents

The emulsion polymerization of vinyl acetate (VAc) was carried out by using redox initiation systems of different persulfate cations such as potassium persulfate (PPS), sodium persulfate (SPS), and ammonium persulfate (APS); each of them was coupled with developed acetone sodium bisulfite adduct (AcSBS) as a reducing agent. The rate of polymerization was found to be dependent on the initiator concentration to the powers 1.04, 1.02, and 0.34, respectively. The effect of the different cations of the oxidizing agents upon the stability of the prepared emulsion lattices was studied by using the sedimentation method. The effect of the different cations on the morphological characteristics of some of the produced lattices was also studied. Finally, the activation energies of these reactions for potassium, sodium, and ammonium persulfate were found to be 0.84 × 10⁴, 1.92 × 10⁴, and 6.68 × 10⁴ J/mol, respectively. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 35: 3141–3149, 1997