Kinetic and particle size studies of emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate and styrene with using polyamidoamine dendrimer as seed

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and styrene (St) were investigated with using polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer as seed, potassium persulfate as initiator and sodium dodecyl sulfate as emulsifier. The effects of 4.0GPAMAM dendrimer concentration, initiator concentration, emulsifier concentration, monomer concentration, and polymerization temperature on the monomer conversion and polymerization rate were investigated. At the same time, the influence of the generation of PAMAM dendrimer on latex particle size was studied also. The results showed that the monomer conversion and polymerization rate increased with increasing initiator concentration, emulsifier concentration, monomer concentration, and polymerization temperature. But polymerization rate increased firstly with an increase in the 4.0GPAMAM dendrimer from 0.03 g to 0.09 g and then decreased with further increase to 0.12 g. When the concentration of 4.0GPAMAM dendrimer less than 1.449 × 10−4 mol/L, the kinetic equation can be expressed by Rp∝[4.0GPAMAM]0.772[SDS]0.562[KPS]0.589[M]0.697, and the activation energy (Ea) of emulsion polymerization is 62.56kJ/mol. In additional, the copolymer latex particle size decreased and possessed monodispersity with increasing the generation of PAMAM dendrimer. According to FT-IR spectrum analysis, PAMAM dendrimer is successfully incorporated into the poly(PAMAM-St–MMA) latex particles.