ON THE POLY(VINYL ALCOHOL)-IODINE COMPLEXES

The color development due to the complex formation of poly(vinyl alcoh ol) (PVA) with iodine increased with increasing syndiotacticity of PVA . Isotactic PVA showed no color development. The color development of syndiotacticity-rich PVA film decreased with increasing annealing temp erature for films before complexization, whereas that of atactic (comm ercial) PVA increased with it. Lower temperatures, the elongation of c omplex film, and the presence of boric acid enhanced the absorbance at 600 nm due to I5-. The complexes are assumed to be made by incorporat ion of polyiodines into aggregates of syndiotactic sequences in PVA. T he polarizability and electric conductivity of complex films are inves tigated. (C) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.