Swelling of poly(methacrylic acid) gels and adsorption of L-lysine and its polymer on the gels

Poly (methacrylic acid) gels (PMAA gels) of various degrees of crosslinking were prepared and the dissociation behavior of these gels was examined; the swelling behavior was investigated as a function of the solution pH values. A reentrant phenomenon of swelling was observed and interpreted based on the Flory-Huggins equation and the Donnan equilibrium formula. Moreover, adsorption of L-lysine, oligo(L-lysine)s (Lys-n,n=3, 9, and 19) and poly(L-lysine) onto PMAA gels from aqueous solutions was investigated under different conditions of pH and concentration of adsorbate. The adsorption ratio of L-lysine onto PMAA gel is dependent on both the pH of solution and the degree of crosslinking. In a pH range between 8 and 9, the protonated form of L-lysine is strongly adsorbed on the PMAA gel by electrostatic interactions. Oligomers and polymer of L-lysine are adsorbed in a somewhat different way from the monomeric L-lysine. In addition, the desorption behavior of L-lysine from PMAA gels by a change in pH was also investigated.     

Investigations of a series of nonionic surfactants of sugar-lipid hybrids by light scattering and electron microscopy

Sugar-lipid hybrids of the type C_nC_m were prepared by coupling an alkane chain (C_n) with a maltooligosaccharide (G_m) over an amide linkage. Coupling was performed with maltobionolactone (G₂) and n-alkylamine chains C_n withn=8,10,12,14,16, i.e. variation of the hydrophobic part of the molecule, and with hexadecylamine (C₁₆) and different maltooligosaccharides (G_m, m=2,3,4,6). The solution properties of the various products were studied by means of static and dynamic light scattering (LS) and by electron-microscopy (EM).The results may be summarized as follows: If the alkane chain is shorter thann=14, small spherical micelles with a radius of about 3 nm are observed. In time these micelles aggregate further to form increasingly larger spherical clusters which eventually precipitate. Long rod-like micelles form whenn 14. Contour length and chain stiffness were determined by applying theories of semiflexible chains. A qualitative confirmation of the light scattering results, i.e., micelle size and shape, was obtained from electron microscopy.     

The properties and behavior of supermolecular formations in aging aqueous poly (vinyl alcohol) solutions

The structure of supermolecular formations and the interparticle interaction in aqueous poly(vinyl alcohol) solutions aging at different concentrations were investigated. Integral light scattering was used to determine the single particle scattering functionP(K), the structure functionS(K), and hence the radial distribution functiong(r). Nonrandom arrangement of the supermolecular formations in solutions under study is much less intensive than that of particles in polymer latices.     

Effects of thermal history on the rigid amorphous phase in poly(phenylene sulfide)

The rigid amorphous phase of semicrystalline poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) has been studied as a function of thermal history using scanning calorimetry, dielectric relaxation, density, and small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). Based on the new heat of fusion of perfect crystalline PPS, which is 26.7±0.8 cal/gram, the weight fraction of rigid amorphous phase is shown to be nearly twice as large as previously reported [1]. The mass fraction of the rigid amorphous phase ranges from 0.24 to 0.42 and is dependent upon thermal treatment. We have taken the approach of assuming a three-phase model for the morphology of semicrystalline PPS consisting of crystalline lamellae, mobile amorphous, and rigid amorphous components. Using this three-phase model, we determine that the average density of the rigid amorphous fraction is 1.325 g/cc, which is slightly larger than the density of the mobile amorphous phase fraction and was insensitive to thermal history. From the SAXS long period, the layer thicknesses of the mobile amorphous phase, rigid amorphous phase, and crystal lamellae were estimated. Only the lamellar thickness shows a systematic variation with thermal history, increasing with melt or cold crystallization temperature, or with decreasing cooling rate.     

Mechanism of the grafting of organosilanes on mineral surfaces. IV. Phenylderivatives of sepiolite and poly (organosiloxanes)

Grafting reactions of phenyl groups on silica substrates using as reagents various phenylsilanes with variable distances between the silicon atoms and the aromatic ring by 0, 1, and 2 methylene groups [Si–(CH₂) _n –C₆H₅] were studied. Two different silicates have been selected as source of silica: sepiolite and tetraethyl-orthosilicate (TEOS). Sulfonic- and nitro-derivatives prepared from these phenyl compounds by electrophilic substitution reactions, have been obtained. The mechanism of these processes has been studied in relation to the number of methylene separating groups belonging to the starting reagents. The characterization of such systems has been achieved by XRD,²⁹Si and¹³C NMR/MAS, IR, and laser microprobe mass spectrometry.Parts I, II and III published in this Journal (1978) 256:135–139, (1979) 257:178–181 and (1985) 263:1025–1030     

Molecular orientation in hot-drawn poly(ethylene terephthalate) films as determined from the intrinsic polarized fluorescence

The groundstate-stable dimers in the non-crystalline regions of uniaxially drawn poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films were used as chain-intrinsic fluorescent labels for studying the orientation distribution in the non-crystalline regions. As far as indicated by the spectra and the fluorescence decay law, the fluorescent group remains unchanged when the sample is uniaxially oriented by drawing above the glass transition temperature. In contrary to the behaviour of physically incorporated probe molecules, the orientation coefficient f ₂ ^F of the dimers is proportional to the amorphous orientation coefficientf ₂ ^A ; concerning the fluorescence signal, amorphous includes all the material outside the perfect crystal.During deformation, the orientation coefficientf ₂ ^F follows approximately a superposition curve of crystallite-like orientation, separable in the initial range of stretching ratio <2.5, and of true-amorphous orientation of the affine network type that becomes noticably at >3.At temperatures closely aboveT _g, and within the selected range of stretching parameters, the fluorescence intensity of PET remains nearly constant with increasing stretching ratio; at >2.5, where the maximum crystallite orientation is achieved and the increase of amorphous orientation becomes noticably, a slight augmentation of the dimer concentration is observed.     

A non-aqueous microemulsion system of ethylene glycol,sodium dodecyl sulfate,toluene, and decanol

The microemulsion liquid in the system ethylene glycol, sodium dodecyl sulfate, decanol, and toluene was investigated by determination of solubility regions and of light scattering intensity.The system without hydrocarbons showed a critical point which remained in the system during the addition of toluene to high content. No other indications of association structures was formed and the microemulsions should be considered as solutions with critical behavior.     

Studies of polymer solvation by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy II: Polyethylene glycol in methyl pyrrolidone

Frequency domain dielectric spectroscopy (30 MHz to 72 GHz) is utilized to study solvation in polyethylene glycol (PEG) — methyl pyrrolidone (MPy) mixtures over the whole mixture range at 20 °C, in particular with PEG 200. Further pure PEGs (200 to 400) and butyl glycol (in the pure state and in benzene and n-hexane solution) are considered for comparison to facilitate the assessment of PEG relaxational behavior. It turns out that the PEG-MPy mixtures can be described in terms of a simple solvation model which takes into account only the bulk and the solvating solvent state. The solvation number per repeat unit is about 0.85 in the dilute solution limit. It decreases gradually with increasing PEG concentration in accordance with a solvation equilibrium model.     

Potential theory in the problems of interfraction at small gap widths. A solid sphere and a droplet

A solid sphere approaches a spherical droplet at small gap widths. The radii of the particles are identical. Potential theory is applied and the problem of interaction brought to the solution of an integrodifferential equation for radial velocity at the droplet/ thin layer interface. Asymptotic formulae are reported for interface velocity and drag force for small and large viscosity ratios. The results are compared with the solutions for a solid sphere and flat tangentially mobile interface. Thus, two major effects may be distinguished: opening of the gap and curving of the streamlines inside the droplets. The latter is shown to cause a relative increase in the drag force.     

Binding of benzopurpurin 4B to poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone): A spectral study on the mechanism of dye binding

The binding mechanism of benzopurpurin 4B to poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) was studied by a spectrophotometric absorbance change method at pH 7.1 in 0.05 mol dm^–3 phosphate buffer. The results were analyzed by Scatchard, Hill, and Schwarz methods. The different shapes of the Scatchard plots indicated the varying degrees of cooperativity which depended on the percent saturation of binding sites. The Hill method elucidated the pairwise binding of the dye to polymer at the intermediate saturation and multimolecular binding both at the low and high saturations. The Schwarz method confirmed the interaction between bound dye molecules which led to cooperativity. The difference spectra of the polymer-dye complex evidenced the elucidated binding mechanism.     

Segmental size of poly(ethylene terephthalate) determined by optical birefringence and ESR spin-probe method

The segmental size in amorphous poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) was determined by two methods: a) from deformational behavior of amorphous samples in the elastic state by optical birefringence measurement, and b) from dynamic behavior of a small spin probe by ESR measurement of correlation times. The use of the network model for orientation of segments in amorphous polymer and of the generalized free-volume model for re-orientation of the probe in the amorphous phase gave comparable values ofn=2.3 and 2.1 structural units/segment. We conclude that trans gauche conformational transitions of rather small macromolecular segments are the basic motion mechanism in _a-segmental mobility in PET.     

Molecular motions in poly(diethyl siloxane) studied by solid-state29Si NMR

Molecular motions in poly(diethyl siloxane) were studied by solid-state²⁹Si-NMR in the temperature range 180–350 K. In this temperature range two solid phases ₁ and ₂, a mesophase _m, and an amorphous isotropic phase exist. The nature of the chain mobility in the different phases was deduced from the resulting changes in the NMR line-shape governed by anisotropic chemical shift. In the intermediate solid phase ₂ its anisotropy is reduced by 25% compared with the low temperature phase ₁ due to the onset of oscillations around the chain axis and conformational transitions. In the mesophase _m the polymer chain rotates about its long axis yielding an axially symmetric chemical shift tensor opposite in sign to that in the ₁, ₂ phases. The broad transition of the mesophase into the isotropic phase is accompanied by an increase in a narrow Lorentzian line arising from the amorphous phase. The results are compared with previous¹H NMR, Raman-spectroscopy and x-ray measurements.After completion of this work we learnt that PDES has recently also been studied through¹³C-MAS and²⁹Si-NMR by Möller et al. [13].     

An investigation of aging aqueous poly(vinyl alcohol) solutions by the light scattering method

Aqueous poly(vinyl alcohol) solutions of various concentrations were investigated. The aged solutions were diluted and then analyzed by the light scattering method, size exclusion chromatography, and viscometry. It was found that a relatively small quantity of supermolecular formations arise during aging; they are dispersed in the molecular solution of the predominant part of the polymeric material present. The amount of these aggregated structures and their formation rate increase with concentration of the aging solution.     

Conformational change of poly(L-lysine) and poly(L-ornithine) and cooperative binding of sodium alkanesulfonate surfactants with different chain length

Conformations of poly(L-lysine) (PLL) and poly(L-ornithine) (PLO) were examined in aqueous solutions of sodium alkanesulfontates (C_nSO₃Na, n=9, 10, 11, 12) in the presence of 0.02 M NaCl by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. These surfactants induce the-structure for PLL and the-helix for PLO. The binding of surfactants on the polypeptides was measured potentiometrically with a surfactant ion electrode and was found to be highly cooperative. The cooperativity increases with increasing chain length of surfactant. The behavior accompanying the surfactant binding and the conformational change indicated that the conformational change requires a certain amount of bound surfactants in the case of C₉SO₃Na and starts immediately on binding of surfactant in the case of C_{1 2}SO₃Na. The clustering of bound surfactants due to the cooperative binding as well as neutralization of polypeptides contributes to their conformational change. A slow conformational change of PLO was found in the time scale of hours, sometimes days, for C₉- and C₁₀SO₃Na at low concentrations, but the binding process reached the equilibrium quickly. This slow mode might occur due to the slow interaction between surfactant/polypeptide complexes.     

Small-angle neutron scattering on shear-induced micellar structures

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments on sheared aqueous surfactant solutions of tetradecyltrimethylammoniumsalicylate (TTMA-Sal) are reported. A5-mM-solution without shear shows a weak correlation peak at a momentum transfer of 0.09 nm^–1 which has its origin in the micellar interaction. For shear rates above a threshold value of =40 s^–1 the scattering pattern shows an irregular increase in anisotropy. The analysis of the anisotropic pattern reveals the existence of two types of micelles: Small rodlike micelles which are weakly aligned and very large rodlike aggregates which are strongly aligned and which are present above the threshold value of. The two micelles are in equilibrium with each other and the equilibrium shifts with increasing shear rate to the side of the large oriented micelles.     

Adsorption of fish oil and poly(vinylbutyral) onto aluminum oxide particles studied by light scattering

The effects of added poly(vinylbutyral) (PVB) and oxidized Menhaden fish oil (O-FO) on dilute suspensions of Al₂O₃ in the azeotropic solvent mixture 73/27 Wt.-% trichloroethylene/ethanol were studied by static (SLS) and dynamic light-scattering (DLS). The DLS correlation function consisted of four terms from: 1) interdiffusion of the two solvents, 2) diffusion of Al₂O₃, 3) diffusion of added O-FO and/or PVB, and 4) an induced velocity of particles through the scattering volume due to laser pressure. The amplitude and relaxation time of all terms could be determined. Addition of PVB to the Al₂O₃ suspension resulted in an increase in particle size corresponding to the adsorption of a monolayer of coils. Addition of O-FO to the Al₂O₃ suspension did not produce a significant increase in particle size, indicating either no adsorption or a compact conformation of O-FO molecules on the Al₂O₃ surface.     

The influence of surfactants on latex flocculation with poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride)

Aqueous latex was flocculated by mixtures of poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride), PDADMAC, and anionic surfactants. Sodium dodecyl sulfate, (SDS), and Aerosol OT influenced flocculation whereas nonionic Tergitol NP-10 did not. The flocculation domains were correlated with properties of the polymer-surfactant complexFlocculation was never observed above the CMC of the corresponding surfactant solution without polymer or latex. At SDS concentrations greater than 10^–3.6 M the flocculation boundary corresponded to the first appearance of insoluble polymer-surfactant complex which was characterized by dynamic light scattering and microelectrophoresis. Under these conditions latex (diameter 570 nm) and dispersed polymer-surfactant complex particles (diameters between 30 and 2 000 nm) displayed simultaneous homo and heteroflocculation. The boundaries of the flocculation domains at low surfactant concentration were determined by the ratio of polymer to latex and by the net electrostatic charge of the soluble polymer-surfactant complex. On the other hand, the mechanisms controlling flocculation boundaries in the dispersed polymer-surfactant domain require further clarification.     

Effect of thick fixed-charge layers on electrostatic interaction — a theoretical approach

The electrostatic interaction pressure of charged surface layers is considered qualitatively and quantitatively. In the case of mutual penetration of the surface layers in addition to Maxwell stress and osmotic resp. hydrostatic pressure an isotropic stress on the fixed charges carrying molecules of the surface layers has to be taken into account. The derivation of the pressure-distance equations is given starting from both thermodynamic/electrostatic and hydrostatic/electrostatic principles. A possible biological significance of the additional stress is discussed emphasizing its role in modifying the structure of surface layer molecules.List of symbols e ₀ elementary charge - k Boltzmann constant - n _i concentration of theith ionic species in the bulk solution - P hydrostatic pressure - P hydrostatic pressure in the bulk volume (× ) - P ^h integration constant, independent on ×:P ^h =P(h) - T absolute temperature - Z _i electrovalence of theith ionic species - thickness of the surface layer - , ₀ relative and absolute permittivities - II(×) osmotic pressure at position × - II osmotic pressure in the bulk solution (× ) - osmotic pressure in the symmetry plane of interacting identical surface layers (electric field strength equals zero) - integration constant, independent on ×: - _e ^h electrostatic component of the disjoining pressure _e ^h = _e (h) - (×) mobile charge density profile (cations and anions of the electrolyte) - (×) fixed charge density profile - ^t(x) total charge density profile ( ^t = +) - ¹(x) fixed charge density profile of one of the two surface layers ( ¹(×) 0 for 0×) - (×) electric potential profile     

Micelle structure in isotropic aqueous colloids of a poly(oxyethylene) amphiphile C12E8

Micelle structure in aqueous colloids in the isotropic liquid phase (L₁) of a nonionic amphipile (n-dodecyl octa(oxyethylene glycol) monoether (C₁₂E₈) has been investigated as a function of concentration and temperature using light scattering (LS), viscometry, NMR, and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS).The spherical micelles, having a radius of 28–31 Å, remain in a wide concentration range from very dilute to ca. 42 wt %. The micelle size increases sligthly with increasing temperature in the range of 25–60 °C. In the concentrated colloids, the spherical micelles are likely to be arranged in a certain ordered structure. Even at such a high concentration as 30 wt %, the isotropic colloid shows Newtonian flow. This suggests that interaction between micelles in the ordered structure is very weak and the structure is very fragile. Moreover, coexistence of the isotropic phase and the ordered structure in L₁ phase is discussed.