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A novel polymer chain growing mode and styrene copolymer prepared with low molecular weight copolymer of α‐methylstyrene and styrene as macroinitiator
Author(s) -
Liu Qian,
Liu Lianying,
Ma Yuhong,
Zhao Changwen,
Yang Wantai
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.41460
Subject(s) - copolymer , polymer chemistry , polymerization , styrene , materials science , chain transfer , polymer , radical polymerization , kinetic chain length , monomer , chain propagation , depolymerization , living polymerization , oligomer , bulk polymerization , composite material
A new polymer chain growth mode, having multiple potential chain propagation sites, initiated by oligomer of α‐methylstyrene (AMS) and styrene (St) (PAS) is presented in this article. The effects of PAS content, AMS fraction in PAS and reaction temperature on bulk polymerization of St have been investigated. It is demonstrated that the PAS performed as macroinitiator in the polymerization of St. The average molecular weights of products increase significantly with the evolution of the polymerization, which is different from conventional free radical polymerization. With 20 wt % macroinitiator, the molecular weights increase from 1.21 × 10 5 to 3.00 × 10 5 with the monomer conversion increasing from 15.3 to 83.0%. This unique feature is tentatively attributed to both the reversible polymerization–depolymerization of AMS segments at high temperature which could generate more than one propagation sites in a polymer chain and the combination termination of St free radical polymerization. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132 , 41460.