Cationic polymerization of styrene using iron-containing ionic liquid catalysts in an aqueous dispersed medium

Abstract

This work aims to study the cationic miniemulsion polymerization of styrene catalyzed by iron-containing imidazoliumbased ionic liquids. The polystyrenes had very high number-average molar mass around 1300 kg mol -1 at 85 °C, molarmass dispersity close to 2.0 and glass transition temperature higher than 102 °C with average particle diameter that remained practically unchanged during the reaction, indicating that the monomer droplets correspond to the polymerization locus. First-order kinetics up to a limit conversion, along with the increase in molar mass as the temperature decreases, styrene polymerization at low temperatures and catalyst inability to polymerize monomers that react exclusively via free radical and/or anionic polymerization, indicate the cationic nature of polymerization. 1 H-NMR and 13 C-NMR spectra suggested the formation of polystyrene, allowing for tacticity distribution quantification: 10% isotactic, 20% atactic and 70% syndiotactic configurations. TEM micrographs confirmed the formation of spherical polymer nanoparticles and the presence of catalysts in the polymer matrix.

Controlled Cationic Polymerization of p-Methylstyrene in Ionic Liquid and Its Mechanism

“…At present, ILs have been used in various polymerization reactions, such as radical polymerization [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], polycondensation [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ], ring opening polymerization, and electrochemical reaction, where many interesting phenomena different from traditional molecular solvents have been found. Some studies show IL cannot only serve as a solvent, but also play a role of catalyst [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. However, compared with other reactions, IL as a solvent for ionic polymerization is rarely reported.…”