  In this work we presented a novel computational model of precipitation
polymerization allowing one to obtain core-shell microgels via a realistic
cross-linking process based on the experimental procedure. We showed that the
cross-linker-monomer reactivity ratios r are responsible for the microgel
internal structure. Values of r lower than 1 correspond to the case when
alternating sequences occur at the early reaction stages; this leads to the
formation of microgels with pronounced core-shell structure. The distribution
of dangling ends for small values of r becomes bimodal with two
well-distinguished peaks, which correspond to the core (short dangling ends)
and corona (long dangling ends) regions. The density profiles confirm the
existence of two distinct regions for small r: a densely cross-linked core and
a loose corona entirely consisting of dangling ends with no cross-linker. The
consumption of the cross-linker in the course in the microgel formation was
found to be in a perfect agreement with the predictions of Monte Carlo (MC)
model in the sequence space.
