The production and properties of crosslinked water-soluble polymers

水溶性聚合物代表了一类非常广泛的聚合物材料，从自然形成的聚合物到具有巨大实用价值的一系列合成材料。今天，天然和合成的水溶性聚合物被用于许多对加拿大具有重大经济和技术重要性的实际应用中，例如：提高石油采收率、废物处理、粘度调节、粘合剂、涂料、保水性、生物医学、医药和高价值化妆品产品。拟议工作的总体目标是更好地科学地了解影响生产重要类型的多组分水溶性聚合物的反应因素。这些研究将着眼于聚合动力学与聚合物的详细结构(相对单体组成和大小(分子量))的关系。从科学的角度来说，这项拟议工作的基本目的是更好地评价水介质中聚合的主要控制因素。建议开展系统的实验研究，以了解生产水溶性聚合物的多组分体系。这项研究将提供有价值的数据，用于开发聚合反应的数学模型，然后可以用作可靠的预测工具。这将允许设计更有效的工艺来制造具有目标结构的聚合物。所获得的信息还将有助于更好地了解在经济和实际应用方面具有巨大潜力的工艺，例如药物输送和功能纳米颗粒。除了收集的科学数据外，这项研究还将在聚合物合成和表征领域为HQP提供极好的培训机会。

Water-soluble polymers represent a very broad class of polymeric materials ranging from naturally formed polymers to a range of synthetic materials having immense practical utility. Both natural and synthetic water-soluble polymers are used today in many practical applications of great economic and technological importance to Canada, such as: enhanced oil recovery, waste treatment, viscosity modification, adhesives, coatings, water retention-, biomedical-, pharmaceutical- and high value cosmetic-products. The overall objective of the proposed work is to provide a better scientific understanding of the reaction factors that affect production of important types of multi-component water soluble polymers. These studies will look at the kinetics of polymerization in relation to the detailed structure of polymers (relative monomer composition and size (molecular weight)). The fundamental aim of the proposed work in scientific terms is to provide a better appreciation of the major controlling factors for polymerizations in aqueous media. It is proposed to carry out systematic experimental studies with a goal of understanding multi-component systems for producing water-soluble polymers. The study would provide valuable data that would be used to develop mathematical models for the polymerizations, which could then be used as reliable predictive tools. This would allow the design of more efficient processes for making polymers with targeted structures. The information obtained will also allow for a better understanding of processes that have great potential in applications of growing economic and practical interest such as pharmaceutical delivery and functional nanoparticles. In addition to the scientific data collected the study would also provide excellent training opportunities for HQP in the area of polymer synthesis and characterization.