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Hydrogen-bonded multilayers of a neutral polymer (poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone), PVPON) with poly-(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) were used as templates to introduce cross-links between PMAA layers using carbodiimide chemistry and ethylenediamine as a cross-linking agent. Upon exposure to high pH, PVPON is completely released from the hydrogel matrix, producing surface-attached PMAA hydrogels. When such hydrogels are deposited at the surface of silica particles, and the particle core is subsequently dissolved, hollow one-component hydrogel capsules are produced. PMAA hydrogel films and hollow capsules underwent reversible, large (factors of 2 or 3) changes in size in response to changes in solution pH and/or ionic strength. The capsules were used for entrapment and storage of macromolecules such as 500 kDa FITC-dextran by "locking" the capsule wall with an electrostatically associating polycation, poly-N-ethyl-4-vinylpyridinium bromide (QPVP). The release of the encapsulated macromolecules was achieved under high salt concentrations (0.6 M NaCl) when QPVP dissociated from the capsule wall. The pH and salt response of these PMAA hydrogel capsules and the polycation-controlled encapsulation of macromolecules hold promise for applications in biomedicine and biotechnology.

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The problem of calculating the electric polarizability tensor alpha(e) of objects of arbitrary shape has been reformulated in terms of path integration and implemented computationally. The method simultaneously yields the electrostatic capacity C and the equilibrium charge density. These functionals of particle shape are important in many materials science applications, including the conductivity and viscosity of filled materials and suspensions. The method has been validated through comparison with exact results (for the sphere, the circular disk, touching spheres, and tori), it has been found that 10(6) trajectories yield an accuracy of about four and three significant figures for C and alpha(e), respectively. The method is fast: For simple objects, 10(6) trajectories require about 1 min on a PC. It is also versatile: Switching from one object to another is easy. Predictions have also been made for regular polygons, polyhedra, and right circular cylinders, since these shapes are important in applications and since numerical calculations of high stated accuracy are available. Finally, the path-integration method has been applied to estimate transport properties of both linear flexible polymers (random walk chains of spheres) and lattice model dendrimer molecules. This requires probing of an ensemble of objects. For linear chains, the distribution function of C and of the trace (alpha(e)), are found to be universal in a size coordinate reduced by the chain radius of gyration. For dendrimers, these distribution functions become increasingly sharp with generation number. It has been found that C and alpha(e) provide important information about the distribution of molecular size and shape and that they are important for estimating the Stokes friction and intrinsic viscosity of macromolecules.

Conformational energy calculations are used to investigate molecular motions in polyethylene crystals. From these a model is derived for the motion that accomplishes the net rotation translation that is believed to underlie the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and dielectric α processes in polyethylenes and paraffins (and their dipole decorated derivatives). The resulting model is found to incorporate features of a number of previous models but differs significantly from all of them. The rotation is accomplished by means of a twisted (by 180°) region that propagates smoothly along the chain across the crystal. It differs from previous rotational models in that the twisted region is found to be rather localized (to ∼12 CH2 units). A dependence of activation energy on chain length (paraffins) or crystal thickness (polyethylenes), with the activation energy becoming independent of thickness in thick crystals, results not from the rotational lattice mismatch of the twisted region per se but from the translational lattice mismatch induced by the 180° rotation of one stem relative to the other. The twist differs from a stable point‐defect twist previously proposed (Reneker defect) in that the chain torsion is relatively uniform through the twist and there is no shortening of the chain accompanying it. Further, the twist propagates smoothly without local barriers to its advance. Thus the propagating twist is to be through of as a transition state rather than a hopping defect. Detailed atomistic conformational energy calculations on C22H46 crystals were combined with a simplified elastic theory for translational stem mismatch in longer chains. From the combined calculations the activation parameters for twist propagation as a function of chain length or crystal thickness could be calculated. The results were compared with experiment for the dielectric α relaxation in paraffins containing dissolved ketones and polyethylenes containing carbonyl groups. The agreement is quite good, especially considering the paucity of adjustable parameters in the model. There is only some slight uncertainty in the calculated entropy of activation and a scattering correction was made a posteriori to account for a slow continued drop‐off in relaxation rate in very thick crystals.