Sodium acrylamidoundecanoate

Gan and Chew [37,38] extended their studies to microemulsions in which all the components except water were polymerizable. Polymerization in microemulsions containing a polymerizable surfactant (sodium acrylamidoundecanoate [37] or acrylamidostearate [38]), a cosurfactant (acrylic acid), and methyl methacrylate as the continuous phase led, under certain conditions, to transparent solid terpolymers with up to 10-20% water dispersed in the polymer matrices. As in the case of copolymers, no particular structure was shown by SEM for these terpolymers. 

The above example highlights the important role of a polymerizable surfactant or cosurfactant in microemulsion polymerization. Gan and Chew [38] were thus able to produce transparent solid polymers by fully polymerizing 54 % MMA, 34 % AA, 10 % H2O, and 2 % SDS or with other lower water concentrations. On further replacement of SDS by a polymerizable surfactant, sodium acrylamidoundecanoate [37], the resulting transparent solid polymers were still compatible with the similar amount of water. This prompted further studies on copolymerization in microemulsions of MMA, AA, and sodium acrylamidostearate (NaAAS), all the three components being readily polymerizable and amenable to terpolymerization in microemulsions. 

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