THE PREPARATION OF MONODISPERSE POLYACRYLONITRILE PARTICLES IN THE PRESENCE OF AB-BLOCK CO-POLYMERS OF POLY-2-VINYLPYRIDINE POLY TERTBUTYLSTYRENE

Radical dispersion polymerization of acrylonitrile in cyclohexane was performed in the presence of the diblock copolymer poly-2-vinylpyridine/poly terbutylstyrene, giving polymer latex particles stabilized by surface layers of chains of poly terbutylstyrene. A seeded polymerization route was employed and the addition of up to a further seven feeds of reactants resulted in the particle growth and the total volume fraction of particles increased to 0.2. The effect of varying the molecular weight of the stabilizer and stabilizer concentration was also investigated. Particle diameter in the range 40-150 nm were obtained depending on the condition of the polymerization. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to determine particle size, shape and distribution.