COPOLYMERIZATION OF POLAR AND NONPOLAR MONOMERS IN DIRECT AND INVERSE EMULSION SYSTEMS

Some problems connected with the use of monomers with different solubilities in water and oil phases for copolymerization in direct and inverse (micro)emulsions are discussed. We have shown that by choosing appropriate model systems which can simulate specific effects connected with the transfer of reactants between various phases and swelling ability of polymer particles, one can contribute to the answering the questions of the propagation locus (loci) of copolymerization and of its (their) history during emulsion copolymerization as well as to recognize the effect of the nature of the interlayer in the inverse (micro)emulsion system in relation to the kinetics and mechanism of the copolymerization process and structure of the copolymer formed. The method was demonstrated on the examples of seeded methyl methacrylate emulsion polymerization, of the emulsion copolymerization of styrene and divinylbenzene and of the inverse (micro)emulsion copolymerization of acrylamide and methyl methacrylate and/or acrylamide and styrene.