SELF-DIFFUSION COEFFICIENT DISTRIBUTIONS IN SOLUTIONS CONTAINING HYDROPHOBICALLY-MODIFIED WATER-SOLUBLE POLYMERS AND SURFACTANTS

The self-diffusion coefficient distribution, obtained from an inverse Laplace transform of the pulsed-gradient spin-echo nuclear magnetic re sonance attenuation function, has been studied as a function of both a ssociative polymer and surfactant concentration. Compared to the paren t homopolymer, the associative polymer exhibited a much wider distribu tion of self-diffusion coefficients, which narrows with surfactant con centration. When the surfactant concentration reaches the saturation l evel for the polymer, the width of the distributions of the parent hom opolymer and associative polymer become identical. The structural basi s for these observations is discussed.