Coil-to-globule transitions of interfacial copolymers in better than theta-solvents

Experimental studies of the coil-to-globule transitions exhibited in better than -solvents by interfacial copolymers ofN-isopropylacrylamide and acrylamide imply that a lower bound for the value of n in then-clusters of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) is 3. The corresponding upper bound is therefore likely to be 5 or 6. Statistical copolymers of PNIPAM containing upwards of 0.75 mole fraction of acrylamide (whose homopolymer does not itself displayn-clustering) exhibited this transition, which disappeared at higher mole fractions of acrylamide. Interfacial homopolymers ofN-ethylacrylamide and its statistical copolymers withN-isopropylacrylamide exhibitedn-clustering at all compositions.