CHANGE OF MOLECULAR-WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION OF STATISTICAL POLY(STYRENE-CO-ACRYLONITRILES) WITH COMPOSITION OF COPOLYMER

Statistical poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN) copolymers with varying mole fractions of comonomer units have been synthesized in a batch reactor. The intrinsic viscosity and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) patterns of model copolymer samples were the basic experimental results. Chromatographic patterns of SAN copolymer samples were converted into molecular weight distributions and afterwards fitted to the theoretical distribution functions. The correlation between the composition of copolymers and the best fitted model distribution (Schulz's two parameters distribution in this case) was established. The treatment of data shows that parameter a is inversely proportional to the content of acrylonitrile units in the sample and indicates the molecular weight interval. Parameter b shows the invariability of the molecular weight distribution shape.