Dispersion Copolymerization of Vinyl Monomers in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide.

The thermally initiated free-radical dispersion copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMA) in supercritical carbon dioxide has been studied in the presence of polysiloxane surfactants. The formation of a stable latex seems to be related to the presence of at least one reactive end group in the surfactant macromolecule, thus suggesting that anchoring of the stabilizer to the surface of the growing polymer particles occurs through chemical grafting. In the case of a molar ratio of DMA to MMA lower than 0.40, microspherical copolymer particles with yields ranging from 81 to 97% were collected from batch polymerizations carried out at 65 °C and 23-28 MPa usin…