The effect of polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) prepared by a RAFT method in the dispersion polymerization of styrene

The dispersion polymerization of styrene has been carried out using polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) copolymer P(S-b-4VP)], prepared by a reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) method, as a steric stabilizer in alcohol media. These block copolymer contains a long poly(4-vinylpyridine) block and a short polystyrene block. The stable spherical particles were obtained when the block copolymer concentrations increased from 2 to 20 wt.% relative to the monomer and the average particle sizes decreased from 340 to 200 nm with increasing concentration of the block copolymer. Alcoholic solvents, from methanol to n-hexanol, are responsible for the particle size. These results indicate that the poly(S-b-4VP) block copolymer is effective for providing polystyrene nano-sized particles with a low content of it working as a good stabilizer in any kind of alcoholic medium.