Brock Copolymer Synthesis in a Microreactor By Precise Analysis and Design of Polymerization Kinetics

Living polymerization has enabled to churn out a variation of functionalized polymers with well-defined properties. These methods of the precise polymerization are based on equilibrium approach. A kinetic aspect of the polymerization process is not well understood. Our study aimed to produce a block copolymer of norbornene by utilizing reaction kinetics. Microreactors consist of SUS tubing and tees were employed in our study due to their excellent performance for defining reaction conditions in high-resolution. The jumping operation of temperature and concentration was designed based on the rate analysis. The sequence of monomer addition, temperature and residence time of each step were optimised for maximizing the concentration of active intermediates. Gradient polymer elution chromatography results confirmed the production of block copolymers in our process.