Kinetic model of living radical polymerization

This work studies the kinetics of living radical polymerization by means of both the nonsteady stale approach and the quasi-stationary state method. Expressions for the number- and weight-average degrees of polymerization and the polydispersity index were derived. Numerical results show that the concentration of residual initiator seriously influences the polydispersity index of the resulting polymer. The calculated outcomes of the non-steady state approach are evidently different from those of the quasi-stationary stale method when the magnitude of the rate constant of termination is comparable with that of the propagation rate constant, and the difference becomes negligible if the rate constant of the termination (k(t)) is much larger than that of propagation (k(p)). The polydispersity index of the resulting polymer increases with decreasing ratios of k(t) to k(p) or M(o) to I-o (initial concentrations of monomer and initiator).