Synthesis of Poly(Itaconate)s With High Monomer Conversion Applying Emulsion Polymerization
S. Charlotte Fischer von Mollard, Nico Ueberschaar, Martin Schreiber, Frank Kamphuis, Stefan Zechel, Martin D. Hager
Abstract
ABSTRACT Itaconic acid and its derivatives can be obtained from renewable feedstocks. However, there are only very limited applications of polymers containing itaconic acid so far. One limitation of the application of this polymer is that commonly utilized polymerization techniques lead to very low conversions of the corresponding monomers. Consequently, itaconic acid and its derivatives are generally considered difficult or poorly polymerizable monomers. The current study presents the improvement of the polymerization by applying an emulsion polymerization of itaconic acid esters, leading to very high monomer conversions with a residual monomer content of less than 1%.