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Updated: Jul 15, 2025

Facile Synthesis of Worm-like Micelles by Visible Light Mediated Dispersion Polymerization Using Photoredox Catalyst
Published on: June 8, 2016
Visible-Light Initiated Dispersion Photopolymerization of Styrene
Rémi Canterel1,2, Jacques Lalevée3,4, Elodie Bourgeat-Lami1
1Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CPE Lyon, CNRS, UMR 5128, Catalysis, Polymerization, Processes and Materials (CP2M), 43 Bd du 11 novembre 1918, F-69616, Villeurbanne, France.
Abstract:
Polystyrene (PS) particles were synthesized in ethanol/water mixture by dispersion polymerization using visible light irradiation, with either a N-heterocyclic carbene borane-based photoinitiating system (PIS) or a disulfide. With the full PIS and poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA) as stabilizer, the size distributions were broad and the amount of PEGMA had a strong impact on the experiment reproducibility. The addition of a base solved the problem, leading to faster polymerizations, narrower size distributions and larger particles. With the disulfide as sole PIS, bigger and narrowly distributed PS particles were again formed. Quantitative conversion was achieved in each system, with particle size ranging between 100 and 350 nm. The use of poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) as stabilizer led to significantly larger particles, up to 1.2 μm, with narrow size distributions. The production of such large latex particles by photoinitiated polymerizations is unprecedented.
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