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Selective Adsorption of Aqueous Phase Co‐Oligomers on Latex Particles Part 1: Influence of Different Initiator Systems
Author(s) -
Daswani Pooja,
Herk Alex
Publication year - 2017
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.201600047
Subject(s) - oligomer , adsorption , aqueous solution , chemistry , copolymer , phase (matter) , aqueous two phase system , polymer chemistry , particle (ecology) , emulsion , chemical engineering , particle size , solubility , materials science , organic chemistry , polymer , oceanography , engineering , geology
For the first time a new analytical procedure to analyze small oligomers produced in a butyl acrylate‐methyl methacrylate emulsion copolymerization is applied. With this method, low molecular weight co‐oligomers are studied using MALDI‐ToF‐MS. Both the oligomers in the aqueous phase and the oligomers in the particle phase can be seen. Varying the initiator system, it is observed that the initiation step has an influence on the composition of these oligomers and hence on the absorption on to latex particles. Chain length dependent average compositions in the aqueous phase are observed. The chain length dependent oligomer composition can be described in terms of kinetic effects and preferential/selective adsorption of co‐oligomers on the particle surface. The kinetic effects and the extent of adsorption on the particle phase are both dependent on the various end groups. The preferential/selective adsorption of co‐oligomers on the particle phase is explained on the basis of solubility and interactions with the surface. The chain length dependent absolute oligomer amount decreases exponentially with chain length as confirmed by Monte Carlo simulations. This information is important to further understand the events of the aqueous phase of an emulsion copolymerization as well as the entry of radicals into the particles.