Live chain distribution

Note that this is a Flory or most probable distribution. Equation 16.76 can also be derived from a z-transform approach [3]. Equation 16.76 and the definition of the moments of the live chain distribution can be used to derive the first three moments of the live chain distribution ... 

The drawbacks associated with this method have been already mentioned. Probably the most important is the architectural limitation, i.e., only asymmetric stars of the type AnA n can be prepared by this method. However, even these structures are not unambiguously characterized. A fraction of the living arms A is not incorporated in the star structure, probably due to steric hindrance effects. These living chains may act as initiators for the polymerization of the monomer that is added for the preparation of the asymmetric star. Another problem is that the active sites of the living An star are not equally accessible to the newly added A monomers, due to steric hindrance effects. Furthermore, the rate of initiation is not the same for these active sites. For all these reasons, it is obvious that the final products are structurally ill-defined with a rather great dis-persity of the n values and are characterized by broad molecular weight distributions. Nevertheless, this method is technically important, since it can be applied on an industrial scale and also provides the... 

The molecular weight distribution of living chains is exponential p(N) = conste (Floty distribution, see eqn [42]). The number-average and the weight-average polymerization degrees are... 

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