Question

Please explain the affects that concentration of monomer can have on typical a radical polymerization

Answer 1

With more concentrated solutions, the polymerization will happen faster, which might heat up a lot your flask with large volumes and concentrations (careful with boiling) and which might give polymers which are hard to redisperse, but also more probably higher molecular weight.

If you are dealing with a highly reactive monomer, than the concentration should be bery low to escape mainly from the gel and cage effects, which are mainly due to the high heat buildup and to the rapid increase of the viscosity of the medium.

The amount of initiator you add and the type of initiator are also important, as well as the pH and the buffer used to keep the pH stable, and the temperature. Putting more initiator will make the polymerization be complete faster, but will also create shorter chains. The radical initiator or coinitiator will also typically be the terminal group on your polymer, so it will change your end-functionalization. The solubility of your monomers and the activation rate of your initiator at a given temperature often depend on the pH in aqueous solutions (in organic solutions, also think of whether you want to have protonated or deprotonated monomers).

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