| Abstract: | The collapse of alkali metal poly(acrylate) (PAAM) gels was investigated for various water/organic solvent mixture systems: methanol (MeOH), ethanol (EtOH), 2‐propanol (2PrOH), t‐butanol (tBuOH), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), acetonitrile (AcN), acetone, tetrahydrofuran (THF), and dioxane. In order to ascertain the counterion specificity in the swelling behavior, four kinds of alkali metal counterions were used: Li+, Na+, K+, and Cs+. Remarkable solvent and counterion specificities were observed for every counterion species and every solvent system, respectively. For example, in aqueous EtOH the dielectric constants (Dcr) at which collapse occurred were in the order PAACs < PAALi < PAAK < PAANa. On the other hand, the Dcr at which PAALi gel collapsed increased in the order tBuOH < dioxane < THF < MeOH < 2PrOH < EtOH < acetone < AcN < DMSO, where the Dcr ranged from about 39 to about 67. This was in contrast to our previous observation for a partially quaternized poly(4‐vinyl pyridine) (P4VP) gel, which collapsed in a much narrower Dcr region in similar mixed solvents. The present solvent‐ and counterion‐specific collapses are discussed on the basis of solvent properties such as the dielectric constant and Gutmann's donor number and acceptor number of a pure solvent. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 2791–2800, 2000 |
