Kinetic study of aqueous polymerization of ethyl acrylate (EA) was carried out at 30 °C in dilute nitric acid medium by employing ammonium ceric nitrate (ACN)–methyl cellosolve (MC) and ACN–ethyl cellosolve (EC) as redox initiator systems. The ceric ion consumption was found to be first order with respect to ceric ion concentration with both initiator systems. The formation of complexes between Ce(IV) and reducing agents (RA) was observed. The order with respect to Ce(IV), reducing agents and monomer was evaluated for aqueous polymerization of EA by Ce(IV)–MC and Ce(IV)–EC redox initiator systems. The overall activation energy, Eoverall, for aqueous polymerization of EA was evaluated in the temperature region of 27–40 °C with both initiator systems. A kinetic mechanism for aqueous polymerization of EA initiated by redox initiator systems is presented. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry

A new synthetic methodology is developed for preparing graft copolymers via RAFT polymerization method by the ''R group approach'' onto styrenic polymers. In this approach, latent sites of the styrenic polymer was brominated first and then converted into macro-RAFT agents with pyrazole and thio dodecyl as the Z groups. This was used to synthesize graft copolymer such as polystyrene-graft-polymethyl methacrylate (PS-g-PMMA), polystyrene-graft-poly(isobornyl acrylate), polystyrene-graft-poly[2-(acetoacetoxy)ethyl methacrylate] (PSg-PAEMA), and poly(para-methoxystyrene)-graft-polystyrene (P(p-MS)-g-PS). The polymers are characterized by gel permeation chromatography, 1 H NMR, IR, and atomic force micros-copy (AFM). The morphology of PS-g-PMMA in THF was investigated using AFM and island-like features were noticed. The AFM studies of the PS-g-PAEMA graft copolymers revealed the formation of globules and ribbon-like morphological features. The PS-g-PAEMA graft copolymers form complex with Fe(III) in dimethylformamide and the AFM studies suggest the formation of globular superstructures. V C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 50: [4772][4773][4774][4775][4776][4777][4778][4779][4780][4781][4782] 2012