General kinetic model of imperfect living polymerization (IV)

Abstract

The living ionic polymerization with two active species was theoretically studied, presenting the expressions of the number- and weight-average degrees of polymerization and the polydispersity index. The numerical calculation shows that both steady state and non-steady state approaches result in the essentially same outcomes when the exchange rate between the two active species is larger than the rates of chain propagation; however, the steady state method leads to a larger error and only the non-steady state approach is valid if the exchange rate between the two active species is comparable to or smaller than propagation rates. In addition, the molecular weight distribution of the resulting polymer becams narrower with the value of κp, approaching to κ′p, and with increasing M0/I0.