Effect of PVP in dispersion and seeded dispersion polymerizations

The outcome of seeded dispersion polymerizations of n-butyl acrylate (BA) and styrene (St) in terms of the success of growing the seed particles without nucleating new particles or generating coagulum was found to be dependent on the seed type (poly[n-butyl acrylate] [ PBA] or polystyrene [PSt]), the second-stage monomer (BA or St), and the type of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) stabilizer (PVP K30 or PVP K90). All seeds were first cleaned of excess stabilizer by medium replacement before the seeded polymerizations. In general, successful particle growth was achieved when the second-stage polymerization employed PVP K30 (1 wt%) as the stabilizer. In contrast, nearly all reactions employing PVP K90 (1 wt%) as the second-stage stabilizer resulted in the nucleation of a second crop of particles. These phenomena were further investigated by carrying out dispersion polymerizations using the supernatant obtained by separating the seeds from the second-stage media (containing monomer). The results paralleled those in the seeding studies and were explained by the presence of small amounts of grafted PVP created in situ during the preparation of the seeds. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 84: 2721–2732, 2002