DIFFUSION-CONTROLLED REACTIONS AT POLYMER-POLYMER INTERFACES

A theory is presented for the diffusion-controlled coupling of end-fun ctionalized A and B homopolymers at an A-B interface. The effective re action rate coefficient k(e) is shown to exhibit a surprising degree o f universality associated with the small center-of-mass diffusivity of high molecular weight polymers. For polymers below the entanglement t hreshold (N < N-e), k(e) scales with molecular weight as k(e) similar to 1/lnN, and above the threshold, k(e) similar to 1/N lnN.