Synthesis of hydrophilic polymers in supercritical carbon dioxide in the presence of a siloxane-based macromonomer surfactant: Heterogeneous polymerization of 1-vinyl-2 pyrrolidone

Batch free radical polymerization of 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (VP) in super- critical carbon dioxide (scCO2) was studied in the presence of a reactive polysiloxane surfactant (PDMS-mMA). Phase behavior investigation showed that when the initial concentration of the surface active macromonomer was higher than 2.5% w/w with respect to the monomer, the reaction mixture, in the absence of efficient stirring, was initially opaque to the visible light, and it slowly turned to an orange tint. Polymeriza- tion experiments carried out with surfactant concentration higher than the aforemen- tioned value proceeded with a fast kinetics, and led to the formation of spherical nanoparticles with almost quant…