• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.750-756
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• 2009

Stable, spherical, polystyrene particles were synthesized in ab initio dispersion polymerization by using the poly(methacrylic acid)[PMAA] macro-RAFT agent. The presence of the PMAA macro-RAFT agent on the polystyrene (PS) particles was confirmed by NMR and FTIR spectroscopy. The PS particle size was influenced by the concentration of the RAFT agent and monomer due to the initial nucleation. When the concentration of the PMAA macro-RAFT agent was increased from 2 to 10 wt% relative to the monomer, the average particle size decreased from 2.31 to 1.36 ${\mu}m$, the conversion decreased from 93.3 to 88.9%, the weight-average molecular weight increased from 46,300 to 150,200 g $mol^{-1}$ and the PDI decreased from 2.79 to 1.94, respectively. In particular, the incorporation of 10 wt% of PMAA macro-RAFT agent produced monodisperse PS spheres of 1.36 ${\mu}m$ with a coefficient of variation (CV) of 6.44%. Thus, the PMAA macro-RAFT agent worked as a reactive steric stabilizer providing monodisperse, micron-sized, PS particles.