Abstract
Colloidal particles of polyalkenamers were obtained by ring-opening metathesis polymerization of norbornene (NB) or cyclooctadiene (COD) in dichloromethane/methanol medium, using alpha-norbornenyl poly(ethylene oxide) macromonomer as steric stabilizer. The dispersions obtained were characterized by electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering.
Depending upon the experimental conditions used, the size of these particles was found to range from 150 nm to 15 mu m. In particular, the particle size was shown to decrease upon increasing the concentration and molar mass of the macromonomer. Beside these factors, it appears that the main parameter that governs the size of the particles formed is the ability of these macromonomers to randomly copolymerize with either NE or COD.