Salt Effects in the Cononsolvency of Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) Microgels

Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) is well known to exhibit reentrant behavior or cononsolvency in response to the composition of a mixed solvent consisting of water and a low‐chain alcohol. Since the solvent structure plays an important role in this phenomenon, the presence of structure‐breaking/structure‐making ions in solution is expected to have a dramatic effect on the cononsolvency of PNIPAM. The present work examines the way that the presence of different salts can modify the reentrant‐phase diagram displayed by a cationic PNIPAM microgel in the mixed ethanol/water solvent. The effects of four Hofmeister anions—SO₄^2?_, Cl^?, NO₃^? and SCN^?—with different abilities to modify the solvent structure are analyzed. The species with kosmotropic or structure‐making character show a clear competition with ethanol for the water molecules, intensifying the nonsolvency of the PNIPAM with the EtOH volume fraction (?_e). However, striking results are found with the most chaotropic or structure‐breaking anion, SCN^?. In contrast to what happens in water‐rich solutions, the presence of SCN^? in alcohol‐rich solvents enhances the solubility of the polymer, which macroscopically results in the microgel swelling. Moreover, this ion displays great stabilizing properties when ?_e> is 0.2. These results have been explained by considering how chaotropic or structure‐breaking ions interact with water and ethanol molecules.