Styrenic (meth)acrylic oligomers

1. A process comprising:

continuously charging into a reactor a mixture comprising:

about 20 wt % to about 80 wt % of a vinylic monomer, the vinylic monomer comprising a styrenic monomer, a (meth)acrylic monomer, or a mixture thereof;

about 0.25 wt % to about 5 wt % of a polymerization initiator; and

about 20 wt % to about 80 wt % of a reaction solvent;

maintaining the reactor at a temperature of from about 120° C. to about 165° C. to produce an oligomer from the vinylic monomer; and

isolating the oligomer;

wherein: the oligomer has an insubstantial amount of olefinic unsaturation and a residence time of the oligomer in the reactor is from about 5 minutes to about 60 minutes.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the oligomer is does not exhibit a significant IR absorption in the range of 1645 cm −1 to 1610 cm −1 .

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the oligomer does not exhibit a significant resonance in the range of 4.5 to 5.5 ppm in the 1 H NMR, referenced to tetramethylsilane.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the vinylic monomer comprises a styrenic monomer and a (meth)acrylic monomer.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the vinylic monomer comprises a (meth)acrylic monomer.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the oligomer is a styrenic oligomer, a (meth)acrylic oligomer, a styrenic (meth)acrylic oligomer, or a mixture or co-polymer of any two or more thereof.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the polymerization initiator comprises an azo compound, a peroxide, or a mixture of any two or more thereof.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the polymerization initiator comprises 2,2′-azodi-(2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile); 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN); 2,2′-azobis(2-methylbutyronitrile); 1,1′-azobis(cyclohexane-1-carbonitrile); tertiary butylperbenzoate; tert-amyl peroxy 2-ethylhexyl carbonate; 1,1-bis(tert-amylperoxy)cyclohexane, tert-amylperoxy-2-ethylhexanoate, tert-amylperoxyacetate, tert-butylperoxyacetate, tert-butylperoxybenzoate, 2,5-di-(tert-butylperoxy)-2,5-dimethylhexane, di-tert-amyl peroxide (DTAP); di-tert-butylperoxide (DTBP); lauryl peroxide; dilauryl peroxide, succinic acid peroxide; or benzoyl peroxide.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reaction solvent comprises acetone, aromatic 100, aromatic 150, aromatic-200, ethyl-3-ethoxypropionate, methyl amyl ketone, methylethylketone, methyl-iso-butylketone, N-methylpyrrolidone, (propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, xylene, toluene, ethyl benzene, carbitol, cyclohexanol, dipropylene glycol (mono)methyl ether, n-butanol, n-hexanol, hexyl carbitol, iso-octanol, iso-propanol, methyl cyclohexane methanol, decyl alcohol, lauryl alcohol, myristal alcohol, cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, behenyl alcohol, or isoparaffins.

10. The process of claim 4 , wherein the (meth)acrylic monomer comprises ethyl acrylate, methyl (meth)acrylate, butyl (meth)acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl (meth)acrylate, hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate, glycidyl (meth)acrylate, acrylic acid, (meth)acrylic acid, hydroxy propyl (meth)acrylate, or hydroxy butyl(meth)acrylate.

11. The process of claim 4 , wherein the styrenic monomer comprises styrene or α-methylstyrene.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein the styrenic monomer comprises styrene and the (meth)acrylic monomer comprises glycidyl (meth)acrylate.

13. The process of claim 4 , wherein the vinylic monomer comprises from about 40 to about 65 wt % of the styrenic monomer; and from about 35 to about 60 wt % (meth)acrylic monomer.

14. The process of claim 1 , wherein the residence time is from about 15 minutes to about 30 minutes.

15. The process of claim 1 , wherein the temperature is from about 120° C. to about 140° C.

16. The process of claim 1 , wherein the temperature is about 140° C.