Synthesis and characterization of covalently colored polymer latex based on new polymerizable anthraquinone dyes

Novel polymerizable red and yellow dyes, consisting of anthraquinone chromophore, alkyl spacer, and acryloyl group, were first synthesized and then used as comonomers in the semicontinuous emulsion copolymerization of styrene, butyl acrylate, and methacrylic acid to fabricate polymer latexes. The influences of the dye monomers on the emulsion polymerization process, the latex particle size and its distribution, the molecular weight of the latex polymer, as well as the light fastness of the polymer latex films, were investigated. Results indicated that, despite of the inhibition effect of the polymerizable dyes on polymerization, stable colored polymer latexes could be prepared with high conversion of total monomers, whereas the conversion of the polymerizable dye decreased as increasing the amount of dye. The light fastness of the covalently colored polymer latex films was proved to be much better than that of the noncovalently colored polymer latex films due to the covalent bond of dye and polymer chains.