A fast method to compute the MSD and MWD of polymer populations formed by step-growth polymerization of polyfunctional monomers with identical reactive groups

A fast method is presented for the calculation of the MSD and the MWD of polymers obtained via step-growth polymerization of polyfunctional monomers bearing identical reactive groups (i.e., systems of type "Afi"). Using this method, the complete distribution can be calculated rapidly, not just the statistical averages of the polymer population such as Mn or Mw. The computed MSD and MWD give more insight than these averages and can be compared to similar data measured on actual polymer systems. The low- and intermediate molecular size/weight part of the distribution curves are calculated using a recurrence scheme, while the high-molecular tail (large and very large polymers) of the distributions is derived from an asymptotic approximation of the associated generating functions