Direct Evidence for the Gas Phase Thermal Polymerization of Styrene.Determination of the Initiation Mechanism and Structures of the Early Oligomers by Ion Mobility

摘要

The mechanism of the self-initiated polymerization (or thermal polymerization) of styrene in bulk liquid or solution has been a challenging subject of research since the early days of polymer chemistry.This is a phenomenon of not only fundamental inquiry but also of great economical interest related to the industrial production of polystyrene and many of its secondary products.The gas phase thermal polymerization of styrene has been demonstrated more than 15 years ago using an elegant approach based on nucleation from the vapor phase.Unfortunately,the nucleation approach provides no direct information on the initiation mechanism or on the structures of the growing oligomers.This information is still unavailable since it cannot be accurately obtained from the analysis of the condensed (deposited) polymer products from the gas phase.