The feasibility of a direct quantitative analysis of styrene by Raman spectroscopy during an emulsion polymerization is examined. A dispersive spectrometer fitted with an intensified diode array detector is used with excitation from the 514.5-nm line of an Ar-ion laser. The limits of detection are 0.26 weight percent styrene in the reaction mixture. Raman measurements are compared with those obtained by UV absorption measurements on extracted samples and found to give essentially the same results.
