The synthesis of styrene maleic anhydride-g-poly (ethylene glycol) methyl ester and styrene maleic anhydride-g-poly (ethylene glycol) methyl ester/poly (ethylene glycol) graft polymers and their corresponding interpenetrating polymer networks with polystyrene

The synthesis of a series of styrene maleic anhydride-gmethoxy (polyethylene glycol) and styrene maleic anhydride-gmethoxy (polyethylene glycol}/polyethylene glycol pol}\u27Illers is described. These products were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) , and end-group analysis. These graft pol}\u27Illers were imbibed with styrene monomer which was then pol}\u27Illerized to fonn an interpenetrating pol}\u27Iller network. Two series of IPNs were synthesized. The first series contained a maximun amount of polystyrene, detennined by the maximun amount of styrene the graft pol}\u27Iller could imbibe. The second series contained 50 wt% polystyrene. All products were subjected to IR and DSC analysis. The styrene components of these IPNs were extracted for characterization by IR spectroscopy and DSC, and molecular weight determination by viscometry. The graft pol}\u27Illers, IPNs, and comnercial grade polystyrene and impact polystyrene were tested for relative impact strength. The IPN products did not show improved impact properties over the cannercial polystyrenes