Associating polymers: From "flowers" to transient networks

We report on a novel telechelic associating polymers that self-assemble in solution into starlike flowers in the dilute regime and develop a fully con nected network of flowers above some threshold concentration phi*. Small-an gle neutron scattering has been used to investigate the form and structure factors of the starlike aggregates, whereas linear rheology was performed t o identify the viscoelastic features of the temporary network. These findin gs are compared to those obtained on an associating polymer which is half o f the telechelic in molecular weight and monofunctionalized (no bridging). Although the neutron scattering signatures are the same, the latter solutio ns remain Newtonian and fluid even for phi >> phi*.