Cosurfactant effects on the microemulsion polymerization of styrene

The polymerization of styrene in o/w microemulsions stabilized with dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) with or without cosurfactant (n-butanol, n-hexanol or n-octanol) is examined here. The addition of a cosurfactant enhances the one-phase region in the order: n-butanol > n-hexanol > n-octanol. The kinetics of polymerization slows down in the presence of the alcohol. With the alcohol, the molar masses increase, but no particular trend was noticed on particle size of the lattices. However, by changing the surfactant counter-ion to chloride, alcohol effects on the kinetics almost vanish. Possible explanations to these results are given here. To cite this article: J.E. Puig et al., C. R. Chimie 6 (2003).