Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization Implemented as Continuous Process in CSTR and PFR at Elevated Reaction Conditions

The reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization is a very versatile type of polymerization to produce (co)polymers of well-defined structure. However, in most cases this process has not exceeded the status of laboratory scale. Besides the major interest in developing well-defined polymer structures in the first row, the relative low speed of polymerization may be another argument. Elevated temperature and pressure may be an option to increase the rate of polymerization to a significant level. The presented work will test for this and inspect the potential of implementing this type of polymerization into a continuous process. On a micro-plant scale, this might be attractive to generate reasonable quantities of well-defined (co)polymers showing low polydispersity indices.