reactive light stabilizer for polymerization of methyl methacrylate in supercritical

Glycidyl methacrylate linked poly(dimethylsiloxane) (GMA-PDMS) was synthesized and used as a light stabilizer for the dispersion polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) in supercritical CO2. This study examined the effect of the concentrations of the light stabilizer, 2,2’-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) initiator, and MMA on the yield, molecular weight, and morphology of the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) product. PMMA was obtained in 94.6% yield using only 0.87 wt% GMA-PDMS. When the AIBN concentration was increased from 0.25 to 1.06 wt%, the molecular weight and particle size of the PMMA decreased from 56,600 to 21,600 and from 4.1 to 2.7 μm, whereas the particle size distribution increased from 1.3 to 1.9. TheM n of the PMMA product ranged from 41,600 and 55,800 under typical polymerization conditions. The PMMA particle diameter ranged from 1.8 to 11.0 μm and the particle size distribution ranged from 1.4 to 1.8.