Nano-sized polystyrene prepared using bifunctional vinyl urethane macromonomer in emulsion polymerization

The linear-type bifunctional vinyl urethane macromonomer (L-VUM: Mw; 40,453) was synthesized and applied to emulsion polymerization of styrene in DDI water. The structure of L-VUM was confirmed using ¹H NMR and FT-IR. The macromonomer served as a good nonionic surfactant resulted in stable polystyrene nanospheres. Polystyrene particles were prepared with various concentrations of macromonomoer (1–30 wt% refer to monomer), initiator (0.5–2 wt%) and different temperatures (60–80 °C). Monodisperse PS nanospheres with 30 wt% L-VUM have a number-average diameter (D_n) of 200 nm with good uniformity (1.011) and molecular weight (M_w) 231,180 g/mol. The particle morphology, molecular weight and distribution, uniformity and the stability of the nanospheres upon the reaction temperature and concentration of L-VUM will be thoroughly discussed.