Oxyethylene units, amphiphilic

The influence of the surfactant in the modified polymers of Figure 1 on n (aqueous solutions, Table I) is not overpowering. The surfactant s influence is diminished by the amphiphilic oxyethylene units which lie interfacially flat at the aqueous-air interface. The hydrophobes are structurally similar to the surfactants providing stability to commercial latices and should be capable of competing with the classical surfactants at the latex surface, but this ability is not reflected in 7T values. The oxyethylene units have been demonstrated(18) to provide osmotic stabilization to latex particles. 

Mayes group demonstrated the direct preparation of amphiphilic graft copolymers by ATRP of poly(oxyethylene methacrylate) (POEM) monomers initiated from the secondary fluoride sites of PVDF backbone. Surface segregation of PVDF-g-POEM additives in PVDF was examined as a route to wettable and foul-resistant surfaces of PVDF microporous membranes [100-102], ATRP of St, PEGMA, NaSS, 2-(A,A-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), butyl methacrylate (BMA), and 2VP, initiated directly from the vinylidene fluoride (VDE) units of PVDF main chains, has also been reported [103-109]. 

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