Thermodynamic interactions and characterisation of poly(isobornyl methacrylate) by inverse gas chromatography at various temperatures

The inverse gas chromatography (IGC) method was applied to poly(isobornyl m ethacrylate) (PIBORNMA) as a method for polymer characterisation and for th e study of thermodynamic interactions. Six groups of solvents with differen t chemical natures and polarities were used to obtain information about PIB ORNMA-solvent interactions. The PIBORNMA-solvent interaction parameters and the free energy of mixing were determined at a series of temperatures. The glass transition temperature (T-g) of PIBORNMA was found to be about 105 d egrees C by differential scanning calorimetry. The thermodynamic sorption f unctions for the sorption process of probes of differing chemical nature in to PIBORNMA solution were obtained and discussed in terms of the probes' in teractions with PIBORNMA. Furthermore, the contributions of -CH2, -C=O, -C= O-OR, aromatic, cyclic ether and -OH functional groups in the six series of solvents to the sorption process were also obtained. Acetates, THF and ket ones were found to be good solvents for PIBORNMA, whereas alkanes, aromatic s and methanol were found to be non-solvents. Also the solubility parameter for PIBORNMA at infinite dilution was found by plotting the graph of [(del ta(1)(2)/RT) - chi(12)(infinity)/V-1] versus solubility parameters, delta(1 ), of some probes. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.