Hydrogen‐bonding interaction of an alternating maleic acid–vinyl acetate copolymer with poly(ethylene glycol), polyacrylamide and poly(<i>N</i>‐isopropylacrylamide): a comparative study

Abstract

Abstract The hydrogen‐bonding interaction and interpolymer complex formation between an alternating maleic acid–vinyl acetate copolymer, (MAc‐ alt ‐VA) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), polyacrylamide (PAM) or poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) in aqueous solution was potentiometrically and viscometrically investigated. MAc‐ alt ‐VA formed with PEG a strong hydrogen‐bonding interpolymer complex with a compact structure, and while its interaction with PAM seems to be very weak, if any, the complex formed with PNIPAM is even stronger than that with PEG. This indicates a very important contribution of hydrophobic interaction to the formation of such hydrogen‐bonding interpolymer complexes. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry