ABSTRACT
Polymer latexes [1] produced by emulsion polymerization [2] have a large and still growing importance as model colloids and industrial products and intermediates. For this reason, we need detailed descriptions of the principal latex constituents, which are the polymer particles. Current analytical techniques yield much information on the polymer chains (dimensions and size distribution, tacticity, comonomer distribution, ionic group density and vicinity, ramifications, cross-linking) on a routine basis, but the only analogous information usually available for latex particles are the particle size distribution and zeta potentials. Much average analytical chemical information can thus be obtained, but we do not usually know how particles differ within a given population, considering their chemical compositions, polymer chain molecular weight (MW), and other characteristics, co-ion and counterion distributions, and so on.
