Microwave mediated RAFT polymerization leads to ultra-fast polymerizations, whilst keeping excellent control over molecular weights and molecular weight distributions; this is the first example of such a dramatic effect of microwaves on living radical polymerization kinetics, and it shows the potential for chemists to produce very well controlled polymers in a matter of minutes.

Polymerization-induced formation of amphiphilic diblock copolymer vesicles is performed in water at high concentrations by a single-step nitroxide-mediated controlled free-radical emulsion polymerization of 4-vinylpyridine, initiated by a water-soluble poly(sodium acrylate) macroalkoxyamine at alkaline pH.

Frontal polymerization is a process of converting a monomer into a polymer by means of a self-propagating thermal reaction wave. We study initiation of polymerization waves by a high temperature heat source. A five species reaction model is considered with a focus on the evolution of two of these species and the temperature of the mixture. The temperature is tracked from the inert heating to th...

The free radical dispersion polymerization of styrene (St) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) initiated by poly(oxyethylene) (PEO) macroazoinimer (MIM-400) in water/ethanol, was investigated at three different temperatures (50, 60 and 80 8C) for seven polymerization times (3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h). PStPEO and PMMA-PEO networks were obtained. In each case, polymer gel fractions depend on the pol...

Emulsion polymerization is one of the most important and versatile polymerization processes. About 10 million tonnes of polymer latices are produced annually for a variety of applications, such as coatings and paints. A key step in most applications is film formation upon evaporation of the dispersing medium, rendering aqueous dispersions particularly environmentally benign. Polymer dispersions...

Hollow polymeric nanocapsules have attracted great interest in recent years due to their broad applications in controlledrelease carriers, catalysis, nanoreactors, and encapsulation of guest molecules. Polymeric nanocapsules have been typically fabricated via the selfassembly of block copolymers, 5 polymerization within lipid vesicles, emulsion polymerization, 14 and the sacrificial core-templa...

The first detailed study on free-radical polymerization, copolymerization and controlled radical polymerization of the cyclic push-pull-type monomer methylenelactide in comparison to the non-cyclic monomer α-acetoxyacrylate is described. The experimental results revealed that methylenelactide undergoes a self-initiated polymerization. The copolymerization parameters of methylenelactide and styr...

A brief overview of the principles and associated instrumentation used to monitor polymerization reactions by automatic continuous online monitoring of polymerization reactions (ACOMP) is presented. ACOMP can be used as an analytical method in R&D, as a tool for reaction optimization at the bench and pilot plant level and, eventually, for feedback control of full-scale reactors. ACOMP measures ...

This Perspective presents recent advances in macromolecular engineering enabled by ATRP. They include the fundamental mechanistic and synthetic features of ATRP with emphasis on various catalytic/initiation systems that use parts-per-million concentrations of Cu catalysts and can be run in environmentally friendly media, e.g., water. The roles of the major components of ATRP--monomers, initiato...