Polymer solutions colligative properties

It is now apparent that the osmotic pressure counts the total number of polymer chains. Colligative properties such as the osmotic pressure give, in general, a measure for the number of independently moving species per unit volume of the solution. 

As Morawetz puts the matter, an acceptance of the validity of the laws governing colligative properties (i.e., properties such as osmotic pressure) for polymer solutions had no bearing on the question whether the osmotically active particle is a molecule or a molecular aggregate . The colloid chemists, as we have seen, in regard to polymer solutions came to favour the second alternative, and hence created the standoff with the proponents of macromolecular status outlined above. 

Table 6.2 Colligative properties of a solution of polymer of molar mass 20 000 at a concentration o/O.Ol g (from F. W. Billmeyer, Textbook of Polymer Science , John Wiley Sons, New York, 1962)...

The number average molecular weight is required. This is obtained directly from measurements of a colligative property, such as the osmotic pressure, of dilute polymer solutions (see Chap. VII). It is often more convenient to establish an empirical correlation between the osmotic molecular weight and the dilute solution viscosity, i.e., the so-called intrinsic viscosity, and then to estimate molecular weights from measurements of the latter quantity on the products of polymerization. 

Nagasawa, M. Kagawa, I. (1957). Colligative properties of polyelectrolyte solutions. IV. Activity coeflScient of sodium ion. Journal of Polymer Science, 25, 61-76. 

Table 2 Approximate change of colligative properties for solutions of polymers with M — 20 kg/mol at 1 wt% concentration according to Ref. [10]...

Vapour pressure osmometry is the second experimental technique based on colligative properties with importance for molar mass determination. The vapour pressure of the solvent above a (polymer) solution is determined by the requirement that the chemical potential of the solvent in the vapour and in the liquid phase must be identical. For ideal solutions the change of the vapour pressure p of the solvent due to the presence of the solute with molar volume V/1 is given by... 

Osmotic pressure is one of the colligative properties of solutions containing both low-Molecular weight compounds and high polymers. The major difficulty faced in the study of the behaviour of low Molecular weight compounds in solution by the Osmotic pressure measurement method is the selection of a suitable semi-permeable membrane. 

The changes in a colligative property of a polymer solution with concentration can be expressed by a virial expansional given below ... 

A measure of any of the colligative properties involves counting solute (polymer) molecules in a given amount of solvent. The most common technique for polymers is membrane osmometry. The technique is based on the use of a semipermeable membrane through which solvent molecules freely pass, but through which the large polymer molecules are unable... 

The alternative value, which describes the polymer-solvent interaction is the second virial coefficient, A2 from the power series expressing the colligative properties of polymer solutions such as vapor pressure, conventional light scattering, osmotic pressure, etc. The second virial coefficient in [mL moH] assumes the small positive values for coiled macromolecules dissolved in the thermodynamically good solvents. Similar to %, also the tabulated A2 values for the same polymer-solvent systems are often rather different [37]. There exists a direct dependence between A2 and % values [37]. 

The analysis described above is useful for modelling colligative properties but does not address polyelectrolyte conformations. Polyelectrolyte conformations in dilute solution have been calculated using the worm-like chain model [103,104], Here, the polymer conformation is characterized by a persistence length (a measure of the local chain stiffness) [96]. One consequence of the... 

The final colligative property, osmotic pressure,24-29 is different from the others and is illustrated in Figure 2.2. In the case of vapor-pressure lowering and boiling-point elevation, a natural boundary separates the liquid and gas phases that are in equilibrium. A similar boundary exists between the solid and liquid phases in equilibrium with each other in melting-point-depression measurements. However, to establish a similar equilibrium between a solution and the pure solvent requires their separation by a semi-permeable membrane, as illustrated in the figure. Such membranes, typically cellulosic, permit transport of solvent but not solute. Furthermore, the flow of solvent is from the solvent compartment into the solution compartment. The simplest explanation of this is the increased entropy or disorder that accompanies the mixing of the transported solvent molecules with the polymer on the solution side of the membrane. Flow of liquid up the capillary on the left causes the solution to be at a hydrostatic pressure... 

The number averageMn can, in principle, be determined by counting the molecules in a gramme of polymer. This is possible by measuring colligative properties of the polymer in solution these are properties which are strictly dependent on the number of molecules per unit volume of the solution, and independent of their nature or size. Colligative properties are ... 

Rudin s aim was to predict the size of dissolved polymer molecules and the colligative properties of polymer solutions (hydrodynamic volume, second virial coefficient, interaction parameter, osmotic pressure, etc) from viscometric data (average molar mass, intrinsic viscosity, etc.). 

Originally x was stated to be independent of polymer concentration. The X-parameters determined by many investigators using one or another of the methods for measuring colligative properties of polymer-liquid solutions (mentioned below) show that this is not the case (see Tables 3-22 of Reference 43) nor does x vary linearly with 1/T as stated in Eq. 7. Later [44] a quantity Aws representing an entropic contribution from contact interaction was added to the Flory-Huggins definition of x to produce a relationship linear in 1/T. 

Barton [41] has assembled a well-referenced source book for the derivation and use of x and cohesion parameters for various polymer solvent pairs. There are many ways to measure solvent activity, the simplest being boiling point elevation, freezing point depression, and osmotic pressure discussed in Section 11.5, Solution and Suspension Colligative Properties. ... 

Suppo.se that a colligative property of the polymer solution is measured. These are properties that depend on the number of dissolved solute molecules and not on their sizes (see also Section 2.10). Osmotic pressure, vapor pressure lowering, and freezing point depression are some examples of colligative properties. If the value of the property measured is P, then by definition... 

Clearly then, if a colligative property of a polymer solution is measured this provides an estimate of of the solute. The choice of the solution property has determined the average molecular weight that the measurement yields. 

Equation (2-62) is the key to the application of colligative properties to polymer molecular weights. We started with Eq. (2-53), which defined an ideal solution in terms of the mole fractions of the components. Equation (2-62), which followed by simple arithmetic, expresses the difference in chemical potential of the solvent in the solution and in the pure state in terms of the mass concentrations of the solute. This difference in chemical potential is seen to be a power series in the solute concentration. Such equations are called virial equations and more is said about them on page 65. 

Colligative properties reflect the chemical potential of the solvent in solution. Alternatively, a colligative property is a measure of the depression of the activity of the solvent in solution, compared to the pure state. Colligative properties include vapor pressure lowering, boiling point elevation, freezing point depression, and membrane osmometry. The latter property is considered here, since it is the most important of the group as far as synthetic polymers are concerned. 

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