Step-Growth Polymerized Systems of General Type “AfiBgi”: Generating Functions and Recurrences to Compute the MSD
L. Tom Hillegers, Johan J. M. Slot · Macromolecular Theory and Simulations · 2015
General step-growth polymerization systems of order 2 are considered, i.e. systems of type “AfiBgi”. We describe an algorithmic method to calculate the molecular size distribution (MSD). Input to the algorithm is the “recipe”: a list of the monomers involved stating their A and B functionalities and their molar amounts, and the degree of conversion. Output is the MSD and its moments. Three main steps lead from input to output: (i) setting up a polynomial equation for the generating function that generates the MSD, (ii) transforming this polynomial equation to a differential equation, and (iii) transforming the latter one further to a recurrence equation. The recurrence yields the MSD and is of constant order.