Kinetics of heterogeneous atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene by using bis(1,10‐phenanthroline)copper bromide

The kinetics of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of styrene using bis(1,10‐phenanthroline)copper bromide was investigated. The concentration of the copper catalyst does not affect the propagation rate but does affect the termination process of polymerization appreciably. With increasing reaction temperature the molecular weight distribution of the produced PS becomes more narrow. The apparent activation energy was found to be 75 kJ/mol.