Effect of end functionality of surfactant molecules an melting behavior inassociating mixtures of poly(4-vinylphenol) and N,N-dimethyloctadecylamine

Melting behavior in associating poly(4-vinylphenol)-N,N-dimethyloctadecylam ine inc mixtures (PVPh-NDOA), which form comb-shaped aggregates, was invest igated with various end functionality of the NDOA. Melting temperatures of the comb-shaped aggregates were depressed with slightly decreased end funct ionality of the surfactant. However, it was found that the repeating unit o f PVPh and the dimethylamino group of NDOA formed 1:1 stoichiometric aggreg ates regardless of the decrement of the end functionality of the NDOA. In a ddition, it was shown that the excess surfactants, which did not have polar groups on the alkyl chain ends, act only as an impurity for the side-chain crystals of the PVPh-NDOA aggregates.