Styrenic Surfmer in Emulsion Copolymerization of Acrylic Monomers: I. Synthesis and Characterization of Polymerizable Surfactants

Abstract

Two procedures to prepare styrenic reactive surfactants are described. The first one, close to a procedure of Ito et al., involves the initiation of anionic polymerization of ethylene oxide by an alkyl silanolate. Once the ethylene oxide is fully consumed, the anion is condensed on a styrenic alkyl bromide. Then the hydroxyl is recovered by a reaction of deprotection. The second one, on the contrary, starts from the hydrophobic end group. This anionic polymerization is initiated by vinyl benzyl alcoholate. Successively butylene oxide and ethylene oxide are polymerized. In the last step, the anion can be used to open the ring of propane sultone and we produce an anionic reactive surfactant, or the living chain can be hydrolyzed to obtain a nonionic surfactant. This second procedure gives good control of both hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity. The physicochemical properties of the corresponding surfactants are measured.