Jr. Ebdon et al., LUMINESCENCE STUDIES OF THE CONFORMATIONAL BEHAVIOR OF HYDROPHOBICALLY-MODIFIED, WATER-SOLUBLE POLYMERS, Macromolecular symposia, 79, 1994, pp. 167-177
A range of hydrophobically-modified water-soluble polymers, based upon
acrylic acid and methacrylic acid as hydrophilic components, has been
studied using various luminescence techniques. Time-resolved anisotro
py measurements, on fluorescently labelled macromolecules, have been u
sed to quantify the extent to which the conformational behaviour of a
given polyelectrolyte affects its segmental mobility, and to gauge how
such behaviour can be controlled by hydrophobic modification. Room-te
mperature stabilized phosphorescence from the labels and/or occluded g
uests and energy transfer experiments have been used to investigate th
e nature of the hydrophobic domains formed in these polymers. Hydropho
bic modification of polyelectrolytes can be used to enhance the scope
of water-soluble macromolecules as solubilizing media for photochemica
l and spectroscopic applications.