Emulsion polymerizations of several vinyl monomers, styrene, methyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate, butyl acrylate, and vinyl acetate, in water using alkali-hydrolysable cationic surfactants with a betaine ester group, (1-alkoxycarbonylmethyl)trimethylammonium chlorides, as emulsifiers were carried out and properties of the resulting latices and the polymers recovered by hydrolysis and salting out were investigated. There were little influences of the surfactants and monomers used here on the polymerizations, forming stable and monodisperse latices with a mean diameter of ca. 70 nm and giving a high molecular weight of polymers at high yields. All polymers were precipitated and recovered by adding a small amount of sodium hydroxide into the latex solutions contained little amount of ionic species. Solvent-cast films of the polymers were found to have surfaces as hydrophobic as those for the corresponding pure polymers prepared by bulk polymerization.

Surfaces of filter papers pretreated with sodium carbonate were coated with poly(methacrylate) latices containing alkali-hydrolysable or non-hydrolysable cationic emulsifiers by a simple drop-coating method and their surface properties were investigated.Determination of fixed amounts of polymers and observation of the paper surfaces suggest that glass transition temperature of the polymers and hydrolysability of the emulsifier are dominant factors for the coating. The latices of poly(2-ethylhexyl methacrylate) containing the hydrolysable emulsifier could coat the paper surface almost perfectly and smoothly, making it quick drying and water repellent.

Poly(styrene-co-butyl methacrylate) and poly(styrene-co-butyl acrylate) latices were prepared by emulsion polymerization with alkali-hydrolyzable and nonhydrolyzable cationic emulsifiers and were used as a dispersant and binder for waterborne carbon black (CB) paint. CB was dispersed in the latex solutions and then coated on filter paper pretreated with dilute aqueous Na 2 CO 3 under mild conditions. The styrene (St)-rich rigid copolymer latices easily dispersed the CB but fixed a little amount of the pigment on the paper surface. In contrast, the methacrylate-and acrylate-rich soft latices tended to increase the adhesibility on it. We also demonstrated that the hydrolyzable-emulsifier-containing latices always had a higher adhesibility than the nonhydrolyzable-emulsifiercontaining ones. Thus, the hydrolyzable-emulsifier-containing latices with an appropriate St content had the highest paintability, rapid adhesion, quick drying, reduced fading, superior fastness, and so on.