Styrene–dimethacrylate copolymerization kinetic modeling

Abstract

A model for the copolymerization of styrene with dimethacrylate including the post‐gelation period, diffusion effects and cyclization reactions was developed. The numerical fractionation method, balance of sequences and pseudo‐homopolymerization hypothesis were used for such a purpose. Diffusion effects were taken into account through an exponential correlation between the termination rate coefficient and the monomer conversion. Average rate coefficients of cyclization and crosslinking reactions were fitted. The model was validated through literature data for the copolymerizations of styrene with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate and styrene with tetraethylene glycol dimethacrylate. The predictions were satisfactory in the range 1–20% of dimethacrylate and temperature at 95 °C. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry

Prediction and comparison of textural properties of magnetic copolymer supports for enzyme immobilization

“…Predictive models can be applied to identify the polymerization conditions needed to obtain supports with specific properties. However, most mathematical models available in the literature are limited to variables related to the reaction medium, such as monomer concentration, monomer conversion, gel fraction, and mean molecular weight . For instance, Hamzehlou et al studied the nitroxide‐mediated radical copolymerization of styrene (STY) with DVB and used Monte Carlo simulations to quantify the homogeneity of polymer networks.…”