Nitroxide-Mediated Bulk and Miniemulsion Polymerization in a Continuous Tubular Reactor: Synthesis of Homo-, Di- and Triblock Copolymers

In previous work, a modified nitroxide-mediated miniemulsion polymerization was demonstrated in a continuous tubular reactor to prepare a latex of polystyrene homopolymer dispersed in water. There, the initial reaction step (low conversion bulk polymerization to prepare the macroinitiator) was done in a batch reactor while the miniemulsion polymerization step was done in a continuous tubular reactor. The present paper describes an extension of that work in which all the reaction steps have been achieved in the continuous tubular reactor. Chain extension of the polystyrene latex to give polystyrene-block-poly(butyl acrylate) diblock and polystyrene-block-poly(butyl acrylate)-block-polystyrene triblock copolymers is also described.