Studies on microgels: 4. The effect of solvent on the synthesis of t-butylstyrene-divinylbenzene microgels by anionic polymerization

Abstract

t-Butylstyrene-1,4-divinylbenzene (TBS-DVB) microgels were synthesized by the arm first living anionic polymerization technique using two different solvents, heptane, a good solvent for poly(TBS) arms only and tetrahydrofuran (THF), a good solvent for both the arms and the poly(t-butylstyrene-co-4-vinylstyrene) block copolymer formed initially before crosslinking. The polymerizations were carried out using t-butyllithium as an initiator. The resulting microgels were characterized by size exclusion chromatography with an on-line multi angle laser light scattering instrument. In the polar solvent THF, much better control of the molecular weight of the microgels was observed. It is suggested th..