Hydrophobically modified ethoxylated urethanes (HEURs) belong to an important class of telechelic associative polymers for improving solution rheological properties. We designed and prepared a novel azobenzene end-functionalized HEUR polymer (AzoHEUR), which was used to investigate the effects of hydrophobicity change of end hydrophobes induced by photoisomerization of azobenzene on the solution aggregation and rheological properties. The concentrated AzoHEUR solutions show a reversible rheological property change upon alternative exposure to UV and visible light. We have demonstrated that a reversible change in hydrophilic−lipophilic balance of polymer followed by photoisomerization of azobenzene induces a reversible rearrangement of micellar junctions through loop−bridge or bridge−loop transitions, which reversibly changes not only the network connectivity but also the solution relaxation behavior. Moreover, a structural model is proposed to describe the rearrangement of micellar junctions induced by photoisomerization of azobenzene. The work will not only provide new insights into the effect of hydrophobicity change of stimuli-responsive end groups on the aggregation and rheological behavior of HEUR aqueous solutions but also open a new perspective for development of some special applications of HEURs in fabrication and transmission of soft materials, medicines, cosmetics, inks for inkjet printers, and flow rate controlling systems.
■ INTRODUCTIONThe hydrophobically modified ethoxylated urethanes (HEURs) as a representative class of associative polymers have been widely used as thickeners in many fields in which careful control of the rheology of the solution is required, such as water-borne coatings, inks, medicines, and cosmetics over the past decades. 1 Like telechelic amphiphilic polymers, HEURs in aqueous solution can form flowerlike micelles composed of the flower loops (hydrophilic backbone) and the micellar cores (hydrophobic end groups) above a critical aggregation concentration (cac). When the polymer concentration (C) exceeds a critical percolation concentration (C p ), the extra hydrophobic end groups will come into the micellar cores through the bridge connection of the hydrophilic chains to form large aggregates of micelle, and a dynamical physical network of micellar junctions is formed eventually, leading to the solution viscosity rises sharply with increasing C. 2−6 Usually, HEUR aqueous solution possesses a Newtonian plateau at low shear rates, followed by shear thinning at high shear rates, with shear thickening at intermediate shear rates for some samples. The research interests include the mechanism of association, the association structure of the polymer in solution, and the response of this structure under shear stress.Up to now, a lot of theories or models have been developed to describe the aggregation and rheological behavior of HEUR aqueous solution, such as the loop−bridge model developed by Winnik 7,8 and the transient network theory developed by Tanaka and Edward et al. 3,9 Accord...