Structure of Hydrogen and Hydrophobically Bonded Amphiphilic Copolymer with Poly(methacrylic acid) Complexes as Revealed by Small Angle Neutron Scattering

We study by SANS the structure of intermolecular complexes formed through hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions between poly(methacrylic acid) (PMA) and a neutral copolymer surfactant (PEO-PPO-PEO). The contrast variation method enables us to probe the structure factor of each polymer in the complex and their cross structure factor. The number of copolymer chains, which results from the cooperative action of hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions increases as the charge of the polyacid decreases. The aggregation preserves the micellar core-corona organization of the copolymer and shrinks the polyacid chains which adopt a similar compact structure. Finally, the structure of the aggregates is compared to that of PEO-PMA homopolymer complex observed by SANS.