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Molecular weight distribution of a living polymer generated from a bifunctional initiator with non‐equal initiation rate constants
Author(s) -
Dong Hai,
Yan Deyue
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
macromolecular theory and simulations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-3919
pISSN - 1022-1344
DOI - 10.1002/mats.1997.040060106
Subject(s) - dispersity , bifunctional , molar mass distribution , polymerization , polymer , polymer chemistry , chemistry , kinetics , work (physics) , reaction rate constant , constant (computer programming) , thermodynamics , living polymerization , radical polymerization , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language , catalysis
Abstract This work deals with the kinetics of the living polymerization initiated by a bifunctional initiator with different rate constants of the first and the second step of initiation. The expressions of the molecular weight distribution (MWD) function, the number‐ and weight‐average degrees of polymerization and the polydispersity index were derived rigorously. Numerical results show that the nonequal initiation rate constants often lead to a bimodal MWD except the ratio of k i to k i ′ being very large (>500, for instance) or relatively small (<1, for example). The MWD of the resultant polymer is rather narrow even in the presence of double peaks. With decreasing initiator concentration, the MWD at full conversion becomes narrower, and the shoulder peak of the MWD curve declines.