Microemulsion and conventional emulsion copolymerizations of styrene with methyl methacrylate

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science 2007-09, Vol.105 (6), p.3391-3401
• Main Authors: Reddy, G. V. Ramana, Devi, N. Gayathri, Panda, Jayakishore
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Copolymerization; emulsion polymerization; Exact sciences and technology; FTIR; NMR; Organic polymers; Physicochemistry of polymers; Preparation, kinetics, thermodynamics, mechanism and catalysts; surfactants
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/app.26310

The microemulsion (M.E.) and conventional emulsion (C.E.) copolymerizations of styrene (STY) with methyl methacrylate (MMA) are carried out at 70°C by employing n‐pentanol (PA) and n‐octanol (OA), respectively, as cosurfactants along with sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), as surfactant in the reaction media, and potassium persulphate (KPS) as initiator. The copolymers are characterized by FTIR, NMR, TG/DTA, and GPC techniques. The reactivity ratios are evaluated by employing Fineman‐Ross (F‐R), Kellen‐Tüdös (K‐T), and Mayo‐Lewis integration (M‐L‐I) methods. The K‐T method yields the apparent reactivity ratios, 0.73 (rSTY), 0.39 (rMMA) and 0.55 (rSTY), 0.50 (rMMA), respectively, for the M.E. and C.E. copolymerizations of STY and MMA with PA as the cosurfactant present in the reaction media. And the K‐T method yields the apparent reactivity ratios, 0.56 (rSTY), 0.43 (rMMA), and 0.42 (rSTY), 0.51 (rMMA), respectively, for the M.E. and C.E. copolymerizations of STY and MMA with OA as the cosurfactant present in the reaction media. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007