LUMINESCENCE STUDIES OF THE CONFORMATIONAL BEHAVIOR OF HYDROPHOBICALLY-MODIFIED, WATER-SOLUBLE POLYMERS

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.