Water-soluble polymers structures

In a general sense it must be realized that pyrene itself is a large and relatively hydrophobic moiety. Accordingly, the introduction of pyrene groups into a water-soluble polymer structure can be regarded as rendering the latter more hydrophobic and thereby... 

Polylacrylic Acid) and Poly(methacrylic Acid). Glacial acrylic acid and glacial meth-acrylic acid can be polymerized to produce water-soluble polymers having the following structures ... 

Radical polymerization of diallylamine derivatives produce water-soluble polymers of low molecular weight [22,55-57]. In order to increase the molecular weight, acrylamide has been copolymerized with these diallylamine derivatives to produce cationic polymers with variable charge density depending on the content of the structural units of pyrrolidinium rings and acrylamide in polymeric chains [22,55,58-61]. 

In previous works [18-20,23,102] water-soluble polymers such as polyacrylamide (pAM), polysodium acrylate (pAA Na), poly(acrylamide-sodium acrylate) (pAM-AA Na), poly(acrylamide-diallyethylamine-hy-drochloride) (pAM-DAEA-HCl), and poly(acrylamide-sodium acrylate-diallyethylamine-hydrochloride) (pAM-AANa-DAEA-HCl) were used in the recovery of cations and some radioactive isotopes from aqueous solutions. It was found that the floe is formed between the added polymer and ions of the solution in the flocculation process with the formation of a crosslinked structure. The formed cross-linked structure is characterized by [103-105] ... 

Hydrophobic interactions of this kind have been assumed to originate because the attempt to dissolve the hydrocarbon component causes the development of cage structures of hydrogen-bonded water molecules around the non-polar solute. This increase in the regularity of the solvent would result in an overall reduction in entropy of the system, and therefore is not favoured. Hydrophobic effects of this kind are significant in solutions of all water-soluble polymers except poly(acrylic acid) and poly(acrylamide), where large heats of solution of the polar groups swamp the effect. 

Finally, a new water-soluble polyphosphazene was recently synthesized that has the structure shown in 36 (46). This polymer has two attributes as a biomedical macromolecule. First, the pendent carboxylic acid groups are potential sites for condensation reactions with amines, alcohols, phenols, or other carboxylic acid units to generate amide, ester, or anhydride links to polypeptides or bioactive small molecules. Second, polymer forms ionic crosslinks when brought into contact with di- or trivalent cations such as Ca or Ai3+. The crosslinking process converts the water-soluble polymer to a hydrogel, a process that can be reversed when the system... 

A theoretical prediction of water-soluble polymer solutions is difficult to obtain due to their ability to build up aggregations and associations. A prediction of the viscosity yield is much easier to observe for solutions of synthetic polystyrene due to its simple solution structure. These solutions have been well characterized in other studies [19-23] concerning their chemical composition, molar mass and sample polydispersity. 

A concept of amphiphilicity, as applied to single monomer units of designed water-soluble polymers, is presented in the third chapter by Okhapkin, Makhaeva, and Khokhlov. The concept is relevant to biomolecular structures and assemblies in aqueous solution. The authors consider the substantial body of information obtained experimentally and theoretically on surface molecular chemical structures, including those that are prospective for surface catalysis. Unusual conformational behaviors of single amphiphilic polymers recently observed in simulations are also discussed in detail. 

Another way of using PVA for UF membranes is by modifying PVA by controlling hydroxyl groups. In this way the pore structure can be easily adjusted by the method phase inversion. Otherwise, once PVA is a water -soluble polymer it is difficult to form porous UF membranes with an ideal morphological structure by the method of wet phase inversion directly when water is used as a coagulation bath. 

This starch derivative is a water-soluble polymer of D-glucose with a largely helical structure. Therefore, like cyclodextrins, it has the ability to bind alkyl chains and to catalyse reactions through the involvement of ionized hydroxyl groups in basic solution (Hui et al., 1982 Cheng et al., 1985). 

FIGURE 19.4 Structures of commercially available water-soluble polymers. 

There are a number of different enthalpic interactions that can occur between polymer and packing, and in many cases multiple interactions can exist depending on the chemical structure of the polymer. Enthalpic interactions that are related to water-soluble polymers include ion exchange, ion inclusion, ion exclusion, hydrophobic interactions, and hydrogen bonding (12)- Other types of interactions commonly encountered in SEC, as well as in all other chromatographic separations, are dispersion (London) forces, dipole interactions (Keeson and Debye forces), and electron-donor-acceptor interactions (20). 

Interpolymer complexation between water-soluble polymers by hydrogen bonding was a frontier subject in the 1970s. Polyfcarboxylic acids), mainly po-lyfacryhc acid) (PAA) and poly( methacryflc acid) (PMAA), served as the most common proton-donating components. As for the proton-accepting polymers, poly(ethylene oxide ) (PEO or PEG) and poly(M-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVPo) were often used. The important results on the formation of complex aggregates and its dependence on the structur prameters have been reviewed [2,3,8]. In this section we select a few representative topics to look at recent advances in interpolymer complexes in aqueous media, with the emphasis on fluorescence probe studies. 

The rules governing the water solubility of polymers are similar to those governing the water solubility of smaller organic molecules except that the extent of polymer solubility and the range of polymeric structures are more limited. Selected commercially available water-soluble polymers are shown in Figure 16.1. 

A further approach to electrically wire redox enzymes by means of supramolecular structures that include CNTs as conductive elements involved the wrapping of CNTs with water-soluble polymers, for example, polyethylene imine or polyacrylic acid.54 The polymer coating enhanced the solubility of the CNTs in aqueous media, and facilitated the covalent linkage of the enzymes to the functionalized CNTs (Fig. 12.9c). The polyethylene imine-coated CNTs were covalently modified with electroactive ferrocene units, and the enzyme glucose oxidase (GOx) was covalently linked to the polymer coating. The ferrocene relay units were electrically contacted with the electrode by means of the CNTs, and the oxidized relay mediated the electron transfer from the enzyme-active center to the electrode, a process that activated the bioelectrocatalytic functions of GOx. Similar results were observed upon tethering the ferrocene units to polyacrylic acid-coated CNTs, and the covalent attachment of GOx to the modifying polymer. 

It is necessary to discuss another chemical feature related to water-soluble polymers cross-cross-linking — the component that separates viscous systems from gel systems. Viscous systems flow, and it follows, therefore, that they do not possess the tensile properties of muscles. High-viscosity systems have structural integrity, gels provide the necessary combination of tensile strength and elongation or stretch. 

The addition of water-soluble polymers such as polyethylene oxide (PEO) or polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) into the synthetic mixture of the C TMAX-HN03-TE0S-H20 system (n = 16 or 18 X = Br or Cl) under shear flow is found to promote uniformity and elongation of rope-like mesoporous silica. The millimeter-scaled mesoporous silica ropes are found to possess a three-level hierarchical structure. The addition of water-soluble polymer does not affect the physical properties of the silica ropes. Moreover, further hydrothermal treatment of the acid-made material under basic ammonia conditions effectively promotes reconstruction of the silica nanochannels while maintaining the rope-like morphology. As a result, a notable enhancement in both thermal and hydrothermal stability is found. 

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