Jr. Quintana et al., MICELLE FORMATION AND POLYISOBUTYLENE SOLUBILIZATION BY BLOCK-POLY(ETHYLENE-CO-BUTYLENE)-BLOCK-POLYSTYRENE BLOCK-COPOLYMERS, Macromolecular chemistry and physics, 196(5), 1995, pp. 1625-1634
Thermodynamics of micellization and the structure of micelles formed b
y block-poly(ethylene-co-bulylene)-block-polystyrene block copolymers
were studied. A molar mass influence on the aggregation number of mice
lles was found. The lower the molar mass, the higher the micelle aggre
gation number. The solubilization of polyisobutylene by micelles of th
ese copolymers in methyl isobutyl ketone was also examined. The satura
tion concentrations of polyisobutylene solubilized by different block
copolymers in methyl isobutyl ketone were determined by laser light sc
attering. The solubility curves found were linear and dependent on the
molar mass of the polyisobutylene solubilized and the copolymer. The
logarithm of the maximum amount of polyisobutylene solubilized by mass
unity of the triblock copolymer varies linearly with the logarithm of
the molar mass of the polyisobutylene. This variation is hardly depen
dent on the copolymer molar mass and strongly dependent on the type of
block copolymer.