A new method to determine monomer concentration in the polymer particles of emulsion polymerization systems by dynamic light scattering

In the published article cited above, by considering corrections made on the eq. (19) which will be discussed in the next section, Figure 6 should be replaced with a following new Figure 1. Hence, and values of 0.379 and 5.68 mol.dm^?3, respectively, on pages 1055, 1061, and 1062 should be changed to their accurate values of 0.426 and 5.29 mol.dm^?3, respectively.     

Polymer microgels prepared by emulsifier‐free emulsion polymerization of unsaturated polyesters and styrene

In the present work polymer microgels were prepared by emulsifier‐free emulsion copolymerization of unsaturated polyesters (UPs) with end carboxyl groups and styrene (St). The nucleation mechanism of UP‐St emulsifier‐free emulsion polymerization was proposed. The effects of the ratio of the monomers to water, pH, and the ratio of UP to St on the stability of polymerization and the yield of microgels were studied. It was found that the polymer microgels can be used to markedly improve the impact strength of UP. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 77: 3049–3053, 2000     

Preparation and characterization of P(St‐co‐4VP) particles produced by using emulsifier‐free emulsion polymerization

Emulsifier‐free emulsion polymerization of styrene (St) and copolymerization of St and 4‐vinyl pyridine (4VP) in the presence of ammonium persulfate were studied. A comparison between the two polymerization systems was made. It was found that there were big differences comparing polymerization rate, the number and size of the particles and distribution, and molecular weight. For the St–4VP system, it was found that the additional amount of 4VP influenced the copolymerization of St and 4VP, molecular weight, and particle size. The formation mechanism of the particles was discussed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 74: 1502–1507, 1999     

Superparamagnetic latex synthesized by a new route of emulsifier‐free emulsion polymerization

The aim of this study was to design polymeric nanospheres containing magnetic nanoparticle which could display superparamagnetic behavior and thus find application in allied fields. First magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized with coprecipitation method and then their stable acidic dispersion was prepared without surfactant and dropped into the polymerization system during a certain time interval after the polymerization started. The effects of time at which the magnetic sol was added into polymerization system on latex size and stability, average molecular weight of polymer were examined in the case of two different monomer concentrations. Extensive characterization by transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, thermal gravimetric analysis and magnetic measurements shows that when the magnetic sol was dropped during earlier time of polymerization at stage 1, the latex size, average molecular weight of polymer, thermal stability of polymeric composite, and saturation magnetization reduced, whereas polydispersity of size and molecular weight increased because of the reaction between persulfate and naked surface of magnetite at the aqueous phase. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Emulsifier‐free emulsion copolymerization of styrene with quaternary ammonium cationic monomers

Emulsifier‐free emulsion binary copolymerizations of styrene with four types of quaternary ammonium cationic monomers, diallyldimethylammonium chloride (DADMAC), (3‐(methacryloylamino) propyl) trimethyl ammonium chloride (MAPTAC), (2‐methacryloyloxy) ethyl) trimethyl ammonium chloride (MATMAC), and vinylbenzyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (VBTMAC), were conducted at 70°C. 2, 2'‐azobis (2‐methylpropionamidine) dihydrochloride (V50) and potassium persulphate (KPS) were used as cationic and anionic initiator, respectively. Ternary copolymerizations were also carried out in the presence of acrylamide as a second comonomer. Monomer conversions were followed by ultraviolet spectroscopy and the polymer microparticles were characterized using photon correlation spectroscopy, electrophoresis, colloid titration, and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicated that VBTMAC and MATMAC were highly reactive in the copolymerization with styrene whereas the incorporation of DADMAC was slow. MAPTAC had an intermediate reactivity. Binary copolymerization with VBTMAC, MATMAC, and MAPTAC produced particles smaller in size, but higher in surface‐charge density, than styrene homopolymer particles. However, significant agglomerates were detected in the VBTMAC and MATMAC‐containing latexes. In contrast, DADMAC‐containing polymer particles were almost identical to styrene particles. Continuous nucleation took place in the binary copolymerizations with VBTMAC and with MATMAC when using V50 initiator. In the case of using KPS, VBTMAC‐containing particles grew continuously to a mean size much larger than the corresponding particles initiated by V50. The presence of acrylamide reduced DADMAC‐containing particle size and diminished the agglomeration in the VBTMAC‐ and MATMAC‐containing latexes. The results were interpreted via particle formation mechanism. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 76: 1129–1140, 2000     

Preparation and characterization of titanium dioxide core/polymer shell hybrid composite particles prepared by emulsion polymerization

Titanium dioxide inorganic core and polymer shell composite poly(methyl methacrylate‐co‐butylacrylate‐co‐methacrylic acid) [P(MMA‐co‐BA)‐MAA] particles were prepared by emulsion copolymerization. Fourier transform IR (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to measure the content of MAA composite particles. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) characterized the composite particle size and size distribution. The field emission SEM (FE‐SEM) results of the composite particles showed regular spherical shape and no bare TiO₂ was detected on the whole surface of the samples. The composite particles were produced, showing good spectral reflectance compared with bare TiO₂. TGA results indicated the encapsulation efficiency and estimated density of composite particles. Encapsulation efficiency was up to 78.9% and the density ranged from 1.76 to 1.94 g/cm³. Estimated density of the composite particles is suitable to 1.73 g/cm³, due to density matching with suspending media. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 2970–2975, 2004     

A new investigation with the salting‐out effect on emulsifier‐free emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate

The effects of the various salts onto the emulsifier‐free emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) were investigated. It was found that the kind and amount of the salts were very effective on the polymerization even onto the polymeric products. It is known that the ionic strength of the electrolyte is effective for the polymerization. However, our investigation with the same ionic strength of different electrolyte produced the different effect on the polymerization. It was found that the Stokes radiuses of ions are very important for the reaction kinetics and type of the product. At the same electrolyte concentration, as increased Stokes radii of cation of salts that not react (the fragments of initiator, ions, etc.) in polymerization, polymerization rate and average molecular weight of polymer decreased, polymer particle diameter increased. In the case of Br^? and SO₄⁼ the anions of the salt are also demonstrated some unexpected reactions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 2494–2500, 2007     

Ab initio reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer emulsion polymerization of styrene/butyl acrylate mediated by poly(acrylic acid)‐block‐polystyrene trithiocarbonate

Ab initio reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) emulsion polymerization of styrene/butyl acrylate was investigated with the trithiocarbonate macro‐RAFT agent poly(acrylic acid)‐block‐polystyrene (PAA‐b‐PS) as a stabilizer and a RAFT agent. Influences of the amount of ammonium persulfate (APS), the amount of PAA‐b‐PS and the mass ratio of monomers on emulsion polymerization and film properties are discussed. The particle morphology exhibited spherical‐like structure with particles of about 90 nm in diameter and relatively narrow particle size distribution characterized using transmission electron microscopy and dynamic laser scattering. Fourier transform infrared and ¹H NMR spectra showed that the styrene/butyl acrylate emulsion was successfully synthesized. The monomer conversion increased initially with increasing amount of APS, from 0.4 up to 0.8 wt%, and then decreased. The particle size increased and its distribution decreased gradually with increasing amount of APS. The monomer conversion increased from 76.83 to 94.21% as the amount of PAA‐b‐PS increased from 3 to 4 wt%, and then decreased with further increase of PAA‐b‐PS. The particle size decreased and its distribution increased with increasing amount of PAA‐b‐PS. The water resistance and solvent resistance of the polymer films initially increased and then decreased with decreasing mass ratio of butyl acrylate to styrene. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry     

Semibatch anionic ring‐opening polymerization of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane in emulsions: effect of the amount of seed polymer particles

Semibatch anionic ring‐opening polymerization of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane with the use of seed polymer particles in emulsions was studied. The concentration of the emulsifier was set above the critical micelle concentration. We investigated the effect of the amount of seed polymer particles on the chemical kinetics and the average particle size and distribution. During monomer starving conditions the polymerization rate strongly depended on the monomer feed rate and not on the amount of seed particles. Throughout the entire monomer feed period the average particle size increased. This increase depended on the number and the size of seed particles. In emulsions with higher particle sizes higher equilibrium conversions were obtained. In our opinion, a greater extent of backbiting reactions is responsible for lower equilibrium conversions during and at the end of the process. The seeded semibatch process seems a reasonable choice for designing emulsion products with high monomer conversion and desired particle size. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Study of the preparation of silicone rubber particles with core–shell structure by seeded emulsion polymerization

Silicone rubber particles with core–shell structure were prepared by polymerization of vinyl monomers in the presence of linear or cross-linked poly(dimethyl siloxane–methyl vinyl siloxane) latexes. The monomers were added in either continuous or swelled-continuous modes. Core–shell particles with poly(butyl methacrylate), or poly(methyl methacrylate), as the shell were obtained by using either addition mode. The core–shell structure was not observed for polysiloxane–polystyrene particles. The influence of monomer addition mode, the compatibilities of the monomers and their homopolymers with silicone rubber, and the reactivity ratios of the vinyl monomers with the vinyl group of linear polysiloxane particles, on the formation of the core-shell structure is discussed.     

Morphologies and dynamic mechanical properties of core‐shell emulsifier‐free latexes and their copolymers for P(BA/MMA)/P(MMA/BA) and P(BA/MMA)/PSt systems in the presence of AHPS

Different poly(methyl methacrylate/n‐butyl acrylate)/poly(n‐butyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate) [P(BA/MMA)/P(MMA/BA)] and poly(n‐butyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate)/polystyrene [P(BA/MMA)/PSt] core‐shell structured latexes were prepared by emulsifier‐free emulsion polymerization in the presence of hydrophilic monomer 3‐allyloxy‐2‐hydroxyl‐propanesulfonic salt (AHPS). The particle morphologies of the final latexes and dynamic mechanical properties of the copolymers from final latexes were investigated in detail. With the addition of AHPS, a latex of stable and high‐solid content (60 wt %) was prepared. The diameters of the latex particles are ～0.26 μm for the P(BA/MMA)/P(MMA/BA) system and 0.22–0.24 μm for the P(BA/MMA)/PSt system. All copolymers from the final latexes are two‐phase structure polymers, shown as two glass transition temperatures (T_gs) on dynamic mechanical analysis spectra. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 3078–3084, 2002     

Preparation of raspberry‐shaped styrene‐butadiene‐methyl acrylate‐acrylic acid latex particles by emulsion polymerization followed by alkali/heating method

Monodispersed raspberry‐shaped polystyrene‐butadiene‐methyl acrylate‐acrylic acid particles were made by semi‐batch emulsion polymerization followed by alkali and heat treatment. The particle sizes and size distributions were studied by hydrodynamic chromatography and transmission electronic microscopy. The morphology of the particles was observed by SEM, cryo‐SEM, and TEM. Treatment temperature was found to have a significant impact on the particle size and morphology of the treated latexes. Higher temperatures lead to larger particle sizes and more discernible raspberry domains with sizes around 50 nm on the particle surfaces. Higher levels of alkali did not significantly change the particle size but did increase the total titratable acid amount, presumably due to the hydrolysis of methyl acrylate during the treatment. GPC results showed that higher amount of oligomers or polymers are produced in the serum for the heat‐treated latexes. Divinylbenzene crosslinking agent at the levels of 0.05–3% limited the particle expansion and decreased the serum acid. A possible mechanism of raspberry particle formations was proposed, which involves migration of hydrophilic and hydrophobic species during the heat treatment. Lastly, potential applications for raspberry particles in paper coating were explored. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Interfacial‐initiated seeded emulsion polymerization: preparation of polystyrene/poly(methacrylic acid) core/shell particles in the absence of surfactant

Composite polymer particles with hydrophobic polystyrene (PSt) as the core and hydrophilic poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) as the shell were prepared through two‐stage emulsion polymerization without any surfactant. In the first step, narrowly distributed PSt seed particles were prepared by surfactant‐free emulsion polymerization with 2,2′‐azobis(2‐methylpropionamide) dihydrochloride (AMPA) as the initiator. In the second step, hydrophilic PMAA shells were fabricated onto PSt seed particles through redox interfacial‐initiated seeded emulsion polymerization with cumyl hydroperoxide (CHPO)/ferrous sulfate/ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)/sodium formaldehydesulfoxylate (SFS), where the initiation took place mainly at the interface between PSt seed particles and the aqueous medium. The composite particles were characterized with transmission electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering, and the results show that a core/shell structure was successfully built. Hydrodynamic radius (R_h) of the composite particles increased with the amount of polymerized monomers in the seeded emulsion polymerization. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

A facile method for the detection of DNA by using gold nanoparticle probes coupled with dynamic light scattering

In this paper, we present a simple and rapid method for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) detection using gold nanoparticle probes coupled with dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis. The redox agent 1,4-dithio-dl-threitol cross-links the gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to form clusters, while the monothiol DNA could terminate the formation and stabilize the assembled clusters by their negatively charge-based repulsions. By varying the concentration of DNA, the different sizes of DNA-AuNP clusters can be obtained. The sizes of the DNA-AuNP clusters were determined by DLS. A linear correlation was obtained between the sizes and the logarithm of DNA concentration from 2 nM to 5 μM with a detection limit of 1 nM (S/N = 3).     

Morphology and thermodynamic analysis of composite polymer particles prepared by soap‐free emulsion polymerization in the presence of poly(methyl methacrylate) and polystyrene as biseeds

Biseeds emulsion polymerization was investigated with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polystyrene (PSt) as biseeds and styrene (St) as second‐stage monomer, as well as with thermodynamic analysis; namely, the principle of minimum interfacial free‐energy change was utilized to explain the competitiveness of different seeds for second‐stage monomer and the final equilibrium morphology of composite polymer particles. The experimental results indicated the polymeric particles prepared had bimodal size distribution and the PMMA seed particles showed a higher chance of obtaining St than that of the PSt seed particles, which was in agreement with the computational outcome by the principle of minimum interfacial free‐energy change. Owing to the kinetic factors, the equilibrium morphology could not be reached in the experiments. However, the results demonstrated that double or multiple seeds emulsion polymerization could be used as a model experiment to study the morphology of polymer particle and the morphological prediction. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 2675–2680, 2004     

Effect of the chain‐transfer‐agent content on the emulsion polymerization process and adhesive properties of poly(n‐butyl acrylate‐co‐acrylic acid) latexes

The effect of water on regenerated silkworm silk fibers has been studied and compared with that of water on natural silkworm silk fibers. Regenerated fibers are spun from an N‐methylmorpholine‐N‐oxide (NMMO) fibroin solution through a wet‐spinning process, leading to fibers with two distinct tensile behaviors, labeled as brittle and ductile, respectively. Regenerated fibers show a significant contraction when immersed in water. Contraction increases further after drying. In contrast, natural silkworm silk fibers show a negligible contraction when submerged in water. Regenerated fibers tested in water are considerably more compliant than samples tested in air, though their stiffness and tensile strength are significantly reduced. It has been shown that the tensile properties of brittle regenerated fibers can be modified by a wet‐stretching process, which consists of deforming the fiber while immersed in water. Regenerated wet‐stretched fibers always show a ductile behavior independent from their initial tensile behavior. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Microgelation of unsaturated polyester resins in the presence of poly(vinyl acetate) by static and dynamic light scattering

The partially cured unsaturated polyester (UPE)/styrene resins with various degrees of conversion lower than gel conversion blended with PVAc and 2‐fluorotoluene solvent were investigated using both static and dynamic light scattering (SLS and DLS). The solvent (i.e., 2‐fluorotoluene) is isorefractive with PVAc; thus, one sees only primary and partially cured UPEs in light‐scattering experiments. DLS was used to follow the variations of primary UPE and UPE microgel particle sizes, and SLS was used to follow the variations of UPE molecular weight, second virial coefficient (A₂), anisosymmetry (ρ_v), and differential index refraction (dn/dC) with degree of UPE conversion and PVAc concentration. The experimental data showed that, at a fixed degree of UPE/styrene conversion, increasing PVAc concentration in the UPE/styrene system caused decreases in dn/dC, A₂, ρ_v, and particle sizes of UPE microgels. These results suggest that mixing PVAc into UPE/styrene resins causes an increase in the compactness of UPE coils and favors intramolecular UPE/styrene cyclization in the early stage of curing. Thus A₂, ρ_v, and particle sizes of microgels decreased with increasing PVAc concentration. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 79: 1439–1449, 2001     

Synthesis of greater than 10‐μm‐sized,monodispersed polymer particles by one‐step seeded polymerization for highly monomer‐swollen polymer particles prepared utilizing the dynamic swelling method

The thermodynamic simulation under the kinetic control state indicates that 1.77‐µm‐sized monodispersed polystyrene (PS) particles can absorb 500 times the amount of the styrene monomer with keeping the monodispersity by the “dynamic swelling method” (DSM) which the authors proposed in 1991. Actually, about 14.1‐µm‐sized monodispersed styrene‐swollen PS particles in which PS seed particles absorbed 500 times the amount of styrene monomer were successfully prepared utilizing DSM. By one‐step seeded polymerization for the dispersion of the swollen particles at 30°C for 48 h with the 2,2′‐azobis(4‐methoxy‐2,4‐dimethyl valeronitrile) initiator, 13.1‐µm‐sized monodispersed PS particles were produced. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 74: 278–285, 1999