SYNTHESIS OF LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT POLY(ACRYLIC) ACID USING DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHAIN TRANSFER AGENTS.

G CÁCERES MONTENEGRO; C. G. GUTIERREZ; MINARI, R. J.; VEGA, J. R.; GUGLIOTTA, L. M.

Florianópolis

Congreso; 12° Congresso Brasileiro de Polímeros (12°CBPol); 2013

Universidad Nacional de Santa Catarina

This work investigates the "semibatch" polymerization in aqueous solution of acrylic acid (AA) in conditions close to starvation of the monomer (a very low concentration of the acrylic acid throughout the reaction), with the addition of two different chain transfer agents: thioglycolic acid (TGA) or isopropyl alcohol (IPA), with the purpose of controlling the molar masses and polydispersity of the Poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) produced, and in turn reduce energy transfer requirements on the standard "batch" operation. PAA of relative low molar weight, (Mn ≈12000 g/mol with TGA and Mn ≈14000 g/mol with IPA, and Dn ≈ 2) was produced through an adequate selection of both CTA and AA flow rates and concentrations.