Photoinitiating capabilities of vinyl polyperoxides and metamorphosis of block-into-block copolymer

Abstract

This article describes the first comprehensive study on the use of a vinyl polyperoxide, namely poly(styrene peroxide) (PSP), an equimolar alternating copolymer of oxygen and styrene, as a photoinitiator for free radical polymerization of vinyl monomers like styrene. The molecular weight, yield, structure and thermal stability of polystyrene (PS) thus obtained are compared with PS made using a simple peroxide like di-t-butyl peroxide. Interestingly, the PS prepared using PSP contained PSP segments attached to its backbone preferably at the chain ends. This PSP–PS–PSP was further used as a thermal macroinitiator for the preparation of another block copolymer PS-b-PMMA by reacting PSP–PS–PSP with methyl methacrylate (MMA). The mechanism of block copolymerization has been discussed.