S. Beuermann, M. Buback, F.-D. Kuchta, C. Schmaltz
Determination of Free-Radical Propagation Rate Coefficients for Methyl Methacrylate and n Butyl Acrylate Homopolymerization in CO2
Macromol. Chem. Phys., 199, 1209-1216 (1998)

Free-radical polymerizations of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and of butyl acrylate (BA) in fluid CO2 were studied by means of pulsed laser polymerization (PLP) and molecular weight analysis of the resulting polymer using size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). With the PLP-SEC technique propagation rate coefficients, k(p), were determined. Depending on the monomer concentration, k(p) values are up to 40% smaller than corresponding data for bulk polymerizations of MMA and BA.