Interfacial-initiated seeded emulsion polymerization: preparation of polystyrene/poly(methacrylic acid) core/shell particles in the absence of surfactant

Composite polymer particles with hydrophobic polystyrene (PSt) as the core and hydrophilic poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) as the shell were prepared through two-stage emulsion polymerization without any surfactant. In the first step, narrowly distributed PSt seed particles were prepared by surfactant-free emulsion polymerization with 2,2'-azobis(2-methylpropionamide) dihydrochloride (AMPA) as the initiator. In the second step, hydrophilic PMAA shells were fabricated onto PSt seed particles through redox interfacial-initiated seeded emulsion polymerization with cumyl hydroperoxide (CHPO)/ferrous sulfate/ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)/sodium formaldehydesulfoxylate (SFS), where the initiation took place mainly at the interface between PSt seed particles and the aqueous medium. The composite particles were characterized with transmission electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering, and the results show that a core/shell structure was successfully built. Hydrodynamic radius (R-h) of the composite particles increased with the amount of polymerized monomers in the seeded emulsion polymerization. (C) 2006 Society of Chemical Industry.