Luminescence studies of the conformational behaviour of hydrophobically-modified,water-soluble polymers

A range of hydrophobically-modified water-soluble polymers, based upon acrylic acid and methacrylic acid as hydrophilic components, has been studied using various luminescence techniques. Time-resolved anisotropy measurements, on fluorescently labelled macromolecules, have been used to quantify the extent to which the conformational behaviour of a given polyelectrolyte affects its segmental mobility, and to gauge how such behaviour can be controlled by hydrophobic modification. Room-temperature stabilized phosphorescence from the labels and/or occluded guests and energy transfer experiments have been used to investigate the nature of the hydrophobic domains formed in these polymers. Hydrophobic modification of polyelectrolytes can be used to enhance the scope of water-soluble macromolecules as solubilizing media for photochemical and spectroscopic applications.