A calorimetric study of the acid dissociation of the conjugate acids of poly(N-vinylimidazole) and polyallylamine

Thermodynamic parameters for acid dissociation of the conjugate acids of poly(N-vinylimidazole) and polyallylamine have been determined in the presence of sodium chloride and sodium nitrate. Even though the plots of ΔG ⁰ against the degree of dissociation, α, are highly dependent on the added salt concentration levels, the concentration effect has never been observed for the corresponding ΔH ⁰ versus α plots. The effect on the ΔG ⁰ versus α plots has been attributed to the entropy change of the counterions between a polyelectrolyte phase and a bulk solution phase. The α dependency of ΔH ⁰ is affected remarkably by the kinds of cationic polymers and counter-anions. Each ΔH ⁰ value at completely neutralized conditions is quite close to the corresponding ΔH ⁰ value of the monomer analog. The difference in the ΔH ⁰ values at fully charged conditions has been explained by the heats due to The ion-pair formation of chloride anion to the conjugate acids of poly(N-vinylimidazole) and polyallylamine has been supported by ³⁵Cl NMR measurement. It has also been suggested that chloride anions bind the basic polymer molecules even at fully neutralized conditions. Received: 2 June 1999/Accepted in revised form: 19 July 1999