Kinetics and mechanism of styrene-acrylonitrile copolymerization in micro-emulsion

Stable and transparent poly(styrene-acrylonitrile) latexes were produced by the polymerization of styrene-acrylonitrile in ternary o/w micro-emulsions containing sodium dodecyl sulfate as an anionic surfactant. Kinetics of co polymerization was studied at different temperatures using different concen trations of potassium persulfate and hydrogen peroxide/ascorbic acid. The s uitability of existing model for homopolymerization was examined for styren e-acrylonitrile copolymerization after appropriate modification. The latexe s were characterized for particle size and number of particles by dynamic l ight scattering and TEM. The isolated products were characterized by H-1 an d C-13 NMR as well as by thermal analysis. The overall size of particles wa s found to be between 15 and 20 nm. (C) 2000 Society of Chemical Industry.