THE BEHAVIOR OF THE MOLECULES OF NATURAL- RUBBER IN SOLUTION - A DYNAMIC LIGHT-SCATTERING STUDY

Dynamic light scattering was used to investigate the structure of the solutions of natural rubber. It was found that both isolated macromole cules and microscopic clusters-associates of the size ranging from 10 to 10000 nm and comprising a different number of macromolecules-exist in the system. The size of associates is controlled by the interplay b etween then proteinaceous and hydrocarbon fragments of a molecule and the concentration of the rubber in solution. Heating the solutions, re duces the degree of association; however, the composition of associate s is restored as the temperatures is reduced to the initial value.