Control of molecular weight of polystyrene using the reverse iodine transfer polymerization (RITP)-emulsion technique

The RITP-emulsion polymerization of styrene in the presence of molecular iodine has been successfully performed using potassium persulfate (KPS) as an initiator and 1-hexadecanesulfonate as an emulsifier under argon atmosphere at 80°C for 7 hrs in the absence of light. The effects of the iodine concentration, molar ratio between KPS and iodine, and solid contents on the molecular weight of polystyrene (PS) were studied. As the iodine concentration increased from 0.05 to 0.504 mmol under the fixed [KPS]/[I(2)] ratio at 4.5, the weight-average molecular weight of PS substantially decreased from 126,120 to 35,690 g/mol, the conversion increased from 85.0% to 95.2%, and the weight-average particle diameter decreased from 159 to 103 nm. In addition, as the ratio of [KPS]/[I(2)] increased from 0.5 to 6.0 at the fixed [I(2)] of 0.504 mmol, the weight-average molecular weight of PS decreased from 72,170 to 30,640 g/mol with high conversion between 81.7% and 96.5%. Moreover, when the styrene solid content increased from 10 to 40 wt.% at the fixed [KPS]/[I(2)] ratio of 4.5, the weight-average molecular weight of PS varied between 33,500 and 37,200 g/mol, the conversion varied between 94.9% and 89.7% and the weight-average diameter varied from 122 to 205 nm. Thus, the control of molecular weight of PS less than 100,000g/mol with high conversion (95%) and particle stability of up to 40 wt.% solid content were easily achieved through the usage of iodine with suitable ratio of [KPS]/[I(2)] in the RITP-emulsion polymerization technique, which is of great industrial importance.