Studies on microstructure and aqueous solution properties of block copolymer of acrylamide-styrene

Three series of block copolymers of acrylamide (AM) and styrene (St) as hydrophobic comonomer with varied microstructures were prepared in microemulsion medium by changing feed ratio of monomers, ratio of St to surfactant, and amount of initiator, respectively. The effects of microstructure factors of the amphiphilic block copolymers PAM-b-PSt on their aqueous solution properties were investigated by fluorescence probe technique and surface tension measurement in detail. The experimental results show that the aqueous solution properties of PAM-b-PSt are strongly dependent on their microstructure factors, such as the length and content of PSt hydrophobic blocks in the copolymers and their molecular weight. It was found that the main microstructure factors which effect the hydrophobic association behavior of the copolymer PAM-b-PSt are the length and content of PSt hydrophobic blocks in the copolymer, whereas the hydrophobic association behavior of the copolymer is not affected nearly so much by molecular weight in more dilute regions. At the same time, it was also found that the main microstructure factors which affect the surface activity of the copolymer are the content of PSt hydrophobic blocks in the copolymer and molecular weight, whereas the length of PSt blocks in copolymer does not affect surface activity of the copolymer nearly so much under fixed content of PSt hydrophobic blocks and molecular weight in the copolymer.