Polystyrene in cyclopentane: Dilute solution properties from the upper critical to the lower critical solution temperature

Dilute solutions of polystyrene in cyclopentane are studied with four narrow-distribution polymer fractions ranging in molecular weight from 1.6 × 10⁵ to 1.8 × 10⁶. Light scattering (total intensity) and viscosity measurements cover a temperature range spanning both “theta” temperatures: the limiting upper critical solution temperature (19.6°C) and the limiting lower critical temperature (154.5°C). Within experimental uncertainty, chain dimensions are the same at the two theta temperatures. Correlations among second virial coefficients, mean-square molecular radii of gyration, and intrinsic viscosities, are analyzed. Temperature and molecular-weight dependences are correlated satisfactorily in terms of the excluded-volume parameter z that is central to the “two-parameter” theories of dilute solution behavior. The data can also be correlated in the framework of the newer renormalization theories.