Association Behaviors of Hydrophobically Modified Poly(vinyl alcohols) in Water and DMSO

Abstract

Water-borne associating polymers are defined as polymers which partly associate in water. They not only show unique physical properties in water but also have been found to have some major industrial applications, such as rheological modifiers in paints and coatings formulations. Basically, they consist of a water soluble backbone to which hydrophobic modifiers are attached. In this study, the association behaviors of alkyl-modified poly(vinyl alcohols) and a control polymer were investigated in water and in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The modified polymers associated with each other in water, while they did not in DMSO. The possibility of controlling the association behavior by changing the solvent composition was demonstrated. The techniques used were pulsed gradient spin echo nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (PGSE NMR) and viscometry.