Intramolecular mobility of side chains of poly(methacrylic acid) in regularly grafted copolyimides in solution

A “dark” copolyimide with regularly grafted side chains of polymethacrylic acid and a luminescence-labeled copolyimide containing an anthracene label covalently attached to side chains with an average polycondensation degree of the polyimide backbone of ～16 and an average polymerization degree of side poly(methacrylic acid) chains of ～100 are synthesized. Relaxation times τ_IMM characterizing the mobility of parts of side chains in solvents of different thermodynamic qualities for the backbone and side chains are determined through the polarized luminescence method. It is shown that, in a “common” solvent for the backbone and side chains, the values of τ_IMM are close to those characterizing the mobility of linear polymethacrylate chains. In selective solvents, changes in τ_IMM are related to not only changes in intramolecular interactions but also changes in the heterogeneity of the dynamic characteristics of parts of grafted chains arranged at different distances from the grafting point.