Poly(Glycidyl Methacrylate-co-Octadecyl Methacrylate) particles by dispersion radical copolymerization

Abstract

Synthesis of uniform poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-octadecyl methacrylate) (poly(GMA-co-OMA)) particles with smooth surfaces were carried out by dispersion copolymerization. Copolymeric particles with stable and smooth surfaces in the size range of 1.0–15 µm were obtained without any sign of coagulation. The effects of different reaction parameters in the preparation of uniform poly(GMA-co-OMA) particles were investigated. The reaction temperature as well as molar ratio of GMA to OMA has effect significantly on the formation of stable and uniform poly(GMA-co-OMA) particles. The final copolymeric particle sizes and stability increases from 2.4 µm to 10 µm with the increased temperature from 50 to 70 °C. For the formation of ideal spherical shape of poly(GMA-co-OMA) particles, ratio between GMA and OMA were optimized. Particle instabilities observed with the increase of hydrophobic OMA while particle sizes were found to be decreased with the increase of GMA content. This result suggests that the introduction of OMA in the dispersion copolymerization of GMA plays an important role for the synthesizing of uniform poly(GMA-co-OMA) microparticles with colloidal stability.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Colloidal stability
• dispersion copolymerization
• glycidyl methacrylate
• microparticles
• octadecyl methacrylate

Additional information

Funding

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, India through the In-house project: OLP-2002.