Nitroxide mediated living radical polymerization in miniemulsion |
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Authors: | M.F. Cunningham K. Tortosa J.W. Ma K.B. McAuley B. Keoshkerian M.K. Georges |
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Affiliation: | Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 |
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Abstract: | The introduction of the aqueous phase into a living radical polymerization increases the complexity of the kinetics by creating the possibility of species partitioning between the aqueous and organic phases, and introducing aqueous phase reactions which could play a significant role particularly in chain initiation and/or particle nucleation. We have conducted a series of styrene miniemulsion polymerizations in which the solubility of initiator and nitroxide have been systematically varied. Experiments were run using either water-soluble (potassium persulphate) or oil-soluble (benzoyl peroxide) initiator, and either TEMPO or 4-hydroxy-TEMPO. These two nitroxides vary considerably in their water solubility. The effects of initiator and nitroxide solubility in water on conversion-time behaviour, molecular weight and initiator efficiency are presented. |
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