Dispersion polymerization of styrene and Methylmethacrylate using macromonomers as a reactive stabilizer

The novel linear- (V-LUM) and cross-type macromonomers (C-VUM) of vinyl-terminated bifunctional polyurethane were synthesized and applied to the dispersion polymerization of styrene and MMA in ethanol. The existence of the vinyl terminal groups and the grafted macromonomer with styrene and PMMA was verified using 1H NMR and 13C NMR. Monodisperse polystyrene (PS) microspheres were successfully obtained above 15 wt % of macromonomer relative to styrene. The macromonomer can efficiently stabilize higher surface area of the particles compared to a conventional stabilizer, PVP. The grafting ratio of the PS calculated from 1H NMR linearly increased up to 0.048 with 20 wt % of the macromonomer and the high molecular weights (501,300 g/mol) of PS with increased glass transition and enhanced thermal stability were obtained. Furthermore, the stable and monodisperse PMMA microspheres having a weight-average diameter of $5.09{\mu}m$ and a good uniformity of 1.01 were obtained with 20 wt% L-VUM. The molecular weight increased, but the size of the PMMA particles decreased with the macromonomer concentration due to the increased stabilizing effect. The molecular weight of the PMMA was approximately two fold higher than that by a conventional PVP. The L-VUM acts as a reactive stabilizer, which gives polyurethane-grafted PS or PMMA with a high molecular weight. In addition, the XPS result showed that the C-PS (PS using the C-VUM) was anchored with a larger amount of PEG than that of the L-PS (PS using the L-VUM) on the particle surface. Thus, the reaction and stabilizing mechanism of the macromonomers for the formation of PS particles is proposed.