Reactive Surfactant in the Emulsion Copolymerization of Methyl Methacrylate and Octyl Acrylate

The emulsion copolymerization of methyl methacrylate and octyl acrylate was studied using a reactive surfactant ammonium sulfate allyloxy nonylphenoxy poly(ethyleneoxy) (10) ether (DNS‐86), and a conventional surfactant sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (DBS) with a similar structure as a comparison sample. A series of latex samples have been prepared with two kinds of surfactants, and their properties have been characterized and compared. ¹H‐NMR proves that the reactive surfactant has been incorporated into the resulting copolymers. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) proves that the reactive surfactant DNS‐86 migrate to the surface of the latex film to a much less degree than the conventional surfactant DBS. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) demonstrates that there are some differences in the particle morphologies. The stability and water‐resistance of the latex films prepared by reactive surfactant DNS‐86 are better than those prepared by the conventional surfactant DBS.

Keywords:

• reactive surfactant
• emulsion copolymerization
• latex
• acrylate

5 Acknowledgements

We thank Guangzhou Shuangjian Co., Ltd. for financial support and providing the reactive surfactants of this investigation. We also thank the financial support of the project 2006‐KL‐008.