Copolymerization of vinyl acetate with reactive surfactants in homogeneous media

The possibility of extending the homogeneity domains obtained after microemulsion polymerization of vinyl acetate in the presence of polymerizable surfactants was studied. Utilization of the monomaleate of nonyl phenol ethoxylated with 25 moles of ethylene oxide as the reactive surfactant increased the number of homogeneous phases from 18 to 32 for 45 systems studied which contained vinyl acetate, ethanol, water, or 33% weight surfactant solution. After the polymerization of vinyl acetate, the number of homogeneous systems was from 15 to 27. The molar excess volume was minimum over a critical range for an alcohol/water (1 mole/5 moles) mixture. The monomer conversion is also minimum over this concentration range. These phenomena were also evidenced in copolymerization of vinyl acetate with di-2-ethyl hexyl maleate, using n-propanol as cosurfactant.