Transfer to Polymer and Long-Chain Branching in PLP-SEC of Acrylates.

Pulsed laser polymerization (PLP) combined with size exclusion chromatography (SEC) is the method of choice for determining propagation rate coefficients. The influence of the long-chain branching in PLP-SEC is investigated using multiple-detection SEC and a recently developed method to detect long-chain branching [P. Castignolles, R. Grab, M. Parkinson, M. Wilhelm, M. Gaborieau, Polymer 2009, 50, 2373.] While little or no long-chain branching is detected in poly(n-butyl acrylate), the error in relevant molecular weights of poly(2-ethylhexyl acrylate) is large (30-100%) due to long-chain branching. Possible variations of propagation rate coefficient with alkyl groups in alkyl acrylates or with the solvent have to be reconsidered.