Controlled Radical Semibatch Polymerization for the Production of Solvent-Borne Coating Resins

摘要

Living radical polymerization (LRP) can provide a variety of advantages to the coatings industry such as higher solids contents and lower required levels of high-cost functional monomers. These advantages are more likely to be realized if LRP chemistry is employed using current semibatch process technology. This work compares the semi-batch production of low MW polystyrene via atom transfer radical polymerization to current free-radical (FRP) technology. Excellent MW control has been achieved (polydispersities<1.2), but reaction rates are reduced compared to FRP. The amount of CuBr catalyst in the system can be reduced without adversely affecting reaction rate or MW control.