Effect of hydrophobic and hydrophilic organic salts on charge transfer polymerisation of styrene

Conventional charge transfer (CT) polymerisation often involves an interaction of a monomer with an electron donor and an acceptor in additives such as Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO). The conventional method suffers from the drawback of poor yields. An attempt has been made in this study to synthesise the polymers by employing different organic salts as an ionisation enhancing additive. The use of a hydrophobic organic salt enhanced the polymer yields significantly and also increased thermal stability. Hydrophilic salts, based on organo-borate anions and quaternary ammonium cations also increased the polymer yields compared to the conventional system.