Heterophase acrylamide polymerization

The mechanism and kinetics of these types of heterophase acrylamide polymerization reactions have been studied [13-15]. Depending on the initiator type and oil quality the polymerization can physically and kinetically resemble either an emulsion or a suspension polymerization. With paraffinic oil phases or water-soluble initiators its mechanism resembles the one for suspension polymerization. 

In the case of inverse systems, hydrophilic monomers such as hydroxyethyl acrylate, acrylamide, and acrylic acid were miniemulsified in non-polar media, e.g., cyclohexane or hexadecane [45,46]. Rather small and narrow distributed latexes in a size range between 50 nmsynthesized with nonionic amphiphilic block copolymers. Depending on the system, the surfactant loads can be as low as 1.5 wt% per monomer, which is very low for an inverse heterophase polymerization reaction and clearly underlines the advantages of the miniemulsion technique. 

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