F. Stoffelbach, L. Tibiletti, J. Rieger
Oct 8, 2008
Citations
1
Influential Citations
59
Citations
Journal
Macromolecules
Abstract
The purpose of this paper was to study the application of a surface-active trithiocarbonate RAFT agent, the 2-(dodecylthiocarbonothioylthio)-2-methylpropanoic acid, sodium salt (TTCA) in surfactant-free, ab initio, batch emulsion polymerization. Because of the highly water-soluble character of the leaving group favoring exit from the micelles or the particles over reinitiation, the polymerization of styrene was completely inhibited. In contrast, the polymerization of n-butyl methacrylate was fast and led to small, stable particles, demonstrating the good stabilizing efficiency of TTCA. However, the control over molar mass was not effective, as homopolymers with high molar mass were formed. This was related to the inappropriate leaving/initiating group and low chain transfer constant of the RAFT agent in the free-radical polymerization of methacrylic esters and was also observed in bulk. This poor efficiency was overcome by copolymerizing n-butyl methacrylate with a low percentage of styrene or n-butyl acr...