STUDY OF THE SOLVENT ROLE ON COMPLEXATION IN SYSTEMS POLY(MONO N-ALKYL ITACONATE) TERTIARY POLYAMIDE

This paper reports a study of the solvent role on complexation in syst ems composed by a polyacid and a polybase. Complexation has been found in water, n-alcohols, ethers and acetone, depending on the chosen pol ymer pair and temperature. The temperature at which the transition fro m a biphasic system to homogeneous solution occurs, has been employed as a measure of the relative stability of the complex. In general, com plexes with bulky side groups are less stable than those with small on es. The influence of solvophobic and hydrophobic interactions has been discussed. The stability of complexes in ethers shows a marked depend ence on the aliphatic character of the polymeric system, showing a com plexing character similar to that of n-alcohols for the polymer system s with lower aliphatic character. Acetone is the most complexing solve nt, probably due to its lower competing ability. Finally, it has been found that the relative stability of complexes with poly(ethyloxazolin e) (compared with those with poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide)) increases w ith the size of the side group of the poly(mono n-alkyl itaconate). (C ) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.