Supporting Information
Facile Synthesis of Core-Shell, Multiple-Compartment Anisotropic Particles
via Control of Cross-linking and Continuous Phase Separations in One-Pot
Dispersion Polymerization
Yanan Liu, Qing Yang, Jinmei Zhu, Lianying Liu1, 2*, Wantai Yang1, 2*
1. Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers, Ministry of Education
2. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology,
Beijing 100029
Preparation of Polystyrene (PSt) Spherical Particles by Dispersion Polymerization
St (2.5 ml), AIBN (0.0453 g), NaSS (0.0453 g), EG (15 ml) and deionized water (10 ml)
were added to a 100 ml three-neck round-bottom flask equipped with a reflux condenser and a
mechanical stirrer. The mixture was heated up to 80°C in a water bath while stirred at 200 rpm
to get a homogeneous solution (Fig. S1). Then, reaction was allowed to run for 8 h and
samples (0.5-1 ml, m0) were taken at intervals to check monomer conversion, molecular
weight and distribution of polymer produced. Before checking, samples were rinsed
extensively with methanol, dried in a vacuum oven to a constant weigh (m1).
Monomer conversion was calculated from the expression:
Conversion (%)=
m1
 100
m0  0.08
Average molecular weights (Mw) and distributions (PDI) of polymers were determined by a
Waters 515-2410 gel-permeation chromatography (GPC) instrument using THF as eluent. The
result was calibrated using linear polystyrene with narrow molecular weight distribution as
standard.
1
Fig. S1 Digital photos of samples taken in the process of dispersion polymerization of St in a
medium of EG and water (EG/H2O=6/4, vol.).
Fig. S2 Monomer conversion, particle size vs. polymerization time curves obtained in
dispersion polymerization of St using a mixture of EG and water as medium (EG/H2O=6/4,
vol.)
Table S1 Molecular weight (Mw) and its distribution (PDI) of PSt in microspheres produced
by dispersion polymerization of St in a medium of EG and water
Time (min)
40
60
90
120
150
180
240
300
480
Mw103
15.2 17.5 28.1 28.4 29.4 29.6 24.3 26.5 28.1
PDI
1.81 1.71 2.56 2.56 2.47 2.64 2.87 2.59 2.63
2
Fig. S3 SEM and TEM image (the upper right inserted) of particles synthesized by adding
DVB (66.4 %) to polymerization of St in EG and water at reaction time of 60 min. The lower
right inserted is TEM image of particles subjected to immersing in THF. Scale bar of the SEM
image is 500 nm, and scale bar of the insert TEM image is 250 nm.
3
Table S2 Gel contents of particles synthesized by AIBN or APS (0.02g) as initiator in the
second step of dispersion polymerization.
Sample
Gel Contents %
Sample
Gel Contents %
Figure 5a
65
Figure 1d1
72
Figure 5b
51
Figure 1c2
63
Figure 5c
40
Figure 1a3
61
Samples of Figure 5a and Figure 1d1 were prepared by adding 44.3% of DVB at 60 min.
Samples of Figure 5b and Figure 1c2 were prepared by adding 33.2% of DVB at 180 min.
Samples of Figure 5c and Figure 1a3 were prepared by adding 16.1% of DVB at 360 min.
4