Microemulsion and Conventional Emulsion Co-polymerizations of p-Methyl Styrene with Methyl Methacrylate.

Microemulsion (ME) and conventional emulsion (CE) co-polymerization of p-methyl styrene (pMSTY) with methyl methacrylate (MMA) are carried out at 70°C using n-pentanol (PA) and n-hexanol (HA), respectively, as co-surfactants along with sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) as surfactant in the reaction media, and potassium persulphate (KPS) as initiator. The co-polymers are characterized by NMR and GPC techniques. The reactivity ratios are evaluated by employing Fineman–Ross (F–R), Kelen–Tüdös (K–T) and Mayo–Lewis integration (M–L-I) methods. The K–T method yields the reactivity ratios 0.68 ± 0.02 (rpMSTY), 0.40 ± 0.02 (rMMA), 0.68 ± 0.02 (rpMSTY) and 0.68 ± 0.02 (rMMA), respectively, for the ME and CE co-polymerizations of pMSTY and MMA with PA as co-surfactant in the reaction media. The K–T method yields the reactivity ratios 1.09 ± 0.02 (rpMSTY), 0.37 ± 0.02 (rMMA) and 0.78 ± 0.02 (rpMSTY) and 0.54 ± 0.02 (rMMA), respectively, for the ME and CE co-polymerization of pMSTY and MMA with HA as co-surfactant in the reaction media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]