Molecular distributions in polycondensations involving unlike reactants. III. Distributions arising in the linear coupling of single polymers

Abstract

Abstract The molecular distributions arising in the coupling of linear polymers are treated in this paper. The distributions are similar to those arising in single‐stage polycondensations, but are more complex. Multi‐stage polycondensations lead to extremely complex distributions. Frequently the distributions of coupled polymers are quite similar to those of the geometrical. However, if the polymer chains to be coupled are quite different from the geometrical in distribution, or if very unsymmetrical coupling agents are used, the coupled polymers may be much narrower than geometrically distributed polymers. In the limit, it is possible to achieve essentially monodisperse polycondensates using multi‐stage condensation.