STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF POLYMERIC MICELLES IN SOLUTION

The association properties of binary and ternary systems of the EPE an d PEP (E and P refer to poly(oxyethylene) and poly(oxypropylene), resp ectively) polymeric surfactants in water and/or xylene were studied by using light scattering and small angle X-ray scattering. The ability of PEP to form micelles in water is greatly reduced when compared with that of EPE, thus demonstrating the profound influence of the tribloc k chain architecture. The anomalous scattering before the onset of mic ellization which has puzzled people for a long time is found to be ass ociated with the copolymer composition heterogeneity. The addition of water to the EPE solution in xylene can induce the micelle formation w ith a transition from spherical to non-spherical shapes of the associa ted structures at high water content.