One-step preparation of highly monodisperse micron-size particles in organic solvents

In this communication, we report the first simple and fast one-step method for synthesizing highly monodisperse micron-size PMMA particles in organic media through dispersion polymerization in the presence of PHSA (a polyhydroxyl-stearic-acid graft PMMA copolymer) as a stabilizer. There are two significant advantages of our method over earlier methods. First, by optimizing the composition of a solvent mixture of hexane and dodecane, we were able to increase the concentration of monomer up to 50-56% and obtain unusually large (up to 10 mum in diameter) PMMA particles. Second, by strictly controlling the nucleation time, we were able to make PMMA particles with a low polydispersity of around 1%, much lower than has ever before been achieved for such large particles. We also report an unusual apparent metastable state in the nucleation stage.