Investigation of the interpolymer association between poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(sodium styrene sulfonate) in aqueous solution

Abstract

A viscosimetric method has been used to study the interpolymer association between poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(sodium styrene sulfonate) (PSSNa) in aqueous solution. At constant molecular weight of PSSNa, it was found that, the PVA and PSSNa associations were improved with the decrease of molecular weight of PVA and the decrease of its hydrolysis degree. The measurement of intrinsic viscosity [g] and the determination of Huggins associative coefficient K H of different PVA samples were used to select the most appropriate PVA sample, which leads to homogeneous polymer-polymer mixtures (PVA with hydrolysis degree 87-89%, molecular weight 124,000-186,000 g/mol, intrinsic viscosity [g] ¼ 1.02 dL/g, and Huggins associative coefficient K h.ass ¼ 0.76). The obtained results show that the interpolymer association between PVA and PSSNa, in aqueous solution, is mainly due to intermolecular hydrogen bonds between hydroxyl groups of PVA and sulfonate groups of PSSNa.

Intrinsic Viscosities of Polymer Blends: Sensitive Probes of Specific Interactions between the Counterions of Polyelectrolytes and Uncharged Macromolecules

“…Examples for the typical behavior of blends (intrinsic viscosities less than additive) were reported for mixtures of poly­(ethylene oxide)/poly­(ethylene glycol), poly­(3-hydroxy butyrat)/poly­(ε-caprolactone), dextran/pullulan, and polystyrene/poly­(4-vinylpyrridine) . Blends of poly­(vinylidene fluoride) and polystyrene, poly­(vinyl chloride) and poly­(ε-caprolactone), poly­(vinyl alcohol) and poly­(styrenesulfonic acid), etc., testify that the intrinsic viscosity of the blend may result larger than the sum of the binary coils. There are also reports on an inversions of the sign of the deviation as a function of blend composition, as for example poly­(ether sulfone) mixed with poly­(vinylidene fluoride) or poly­(styrene), carboxymethylcellulose/polyacrylamide, polyvinylpyrrolidone/methylcellulose, poly­(vinyl alcohol)/sodium polystyrenesulfonate, chitosan/poly­(vinyl alcohol), and more.…”

“…Blends of poly­(vinylidene fluoride) and polystyrene, poly­(vinyl chloride) and poly­(ε-caprolactone), poly­(vinyl alcohol) and poly­(styrenesulfonic acid), etc., testify that the intrinsic viscosity of the blend may result larger than the sum of the binary coils. There are also reports on an inversions of the sign of the deviation as a function of blend composition, as for example poly­(ether sulfone) mixed with poly­(vinylidene fluoride) or poly­(styrene), carboxymethylcellulose/polyacrylamide, polyvinylpyrrolidone/methylcellulose, poly­(vinyl alcohol)/sodium polystyrenesulfonate, chitosan/poly­(vinyl alcohol), and more.…”