Cationic miniemulsion polymerization of styrene mediated by imidazolium based ionic liquid

For the first time, it was shown the cationic miniemulsion polymerization of styrene using an ionic liquid as catalyst. The ionic liquid (BMI·Fe2Cl7) was tolerant to the presence of high amount of water, being effective for polymerization of styrene in the evaluated temperatures range from 70 to 90 °C. The polymerization was considerably slower than conventional cationic polymerization, indicating that this process is easier to control than the...