Interpolymer complexes in the poly(styrene-co-allyl alcohol) poly(N-methyl-N-vinylacetamide) system

Abstract

Poly(styrene-co-allyl alcohol) (SAA) with hydroxyl contents of 4.5 and 6.5 wt% can form intermolecular complexes with poly(N-methyl-N-vinylacetamide) (PMVAc) depending on the nature of the solvent(s) and the feed compositions that are used. When methyl ethyl ketone was used as the solvent, complexation between SAA and PMVAc occurred at all feed compositions, but when tetrahydrofuran was used as the solvent, complexation occurred only when the feed was rich in SAA. However, only miscible blends were formed from N,N-dimethylformamide, a strong hydrogen bond breaking solvent. The compositions of the complexes are in the range of 50-70 mol% and 55-74 mol% of PMVAc for the SAA(4.5) PMVAc and SAA(6.5) PMVAc systems, respectively. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopic studies showed the existence of hydrogen bonding interactions in the blends. © 1993.