Preparation of styrene-methyl methacrylate, styrene-butyl methacrylate, and styrene-butyl methacrylate copolymers by pseudolive radical polymerization was studied.

It has been shown that, at 70°C, cobalt(III) 1-nitroso-2-naphtholate inhibits the free-radical polymerization of styrene, methyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate, and butyl acrylate. The induction period linearly increases with complex concentration. The polymerization of styrene (120°C) carried out in the presence of cobalt(III) 1-nitroso-2-naphtholate shows typical features of pseudoliving polymerization, namely, linear ln[M]0/[M]-time and molecular mass-conversion plots. When the monomers are allowed to stand with a complex (7 × 10−3 mol/l) and an initiator (5 × 10−3 mol/l) for 1 day at 20°C, the ESR signal corresponding to the nitroxide radical appears. In the course of polymerization, the signal disappears, indicating the consecutive transformation of the cobalt(III) 1-nitroso-2-naphtholate radical into the macronitroxide adduct. Polystyrene samples isolated at various conversions initiate the secondary polymerization of styrene and its block copolymerization with methyl methacrylate.

A method for determining the molecular weight of hyperbranched polymers is developed, based on the measurement of the area of the monolayer at the water/air interface.

The wettability and surface topography of films prepared from mechanical blends of PMMA and the dendritic hyperbranched perfluorinated poly(phenylene germane), as well as of the product of methyl methacrylate polymerization carried out in the presence of the latter polymer, were studied. Even at a small amount of the hydrophobic perfluorinated poly(phenylene germane), films prepared from solutions of mechanical blends in THF were not wet by water (theta = 120 degrees), while films prepared from chloroform solutions were wet by water at a greater amount of this polymer (theta < 90 degrees). The former effect is due to the surface segregation, while the latter effect is related to the formation of disklike leaf-shaped PMMA particles. Methylene iodide wet the films of mechanical blends and of the product of MMA polymerization obtained in the presence of poly(phenylenegermane). The latter films were also wet by water. The surface topography of films prepared from the polymerization product was significantly affected by the nature of the solvent.