Reversible Association/Gelation of Amphiphilic Cation-Anion Polymers

本研究的重点是同时含有阳离子和阴离子电荷的新型两亲性新单体和聚合物的制备和表征。要研究的聚合物将是基于疏水的离子对共聚单体的聚两性聚合物和来自偶极离子单体的聚胺酰亚胺。这些体系将把疏水取代基与阳离子和阴离子取代基结合在一起，从而在非极性溶剂中增加聚合物-聚合物的相互作用。在极性溶剂中，静电和疏水(非极性)相互作用的结合被认为会导致聚合物体系在剪切下聚集或凝胶化。这项研究应该会增加对相对罕见的剪切增厚现象的理解。

This research focuses on the preparation and characterization of novel amphiphilic new monomers and polymers that contain both cationic and anionic charges. The polymers to be studied will be polyampholytes from hydrophobically-based ion-pair comonomers and polyaminimides from dipolar ionic monomers. These systems will incorporate hydrophobic substituents with cationic and anionic substituents such that increased polymer-polymer inter- actions in apolar solvents can occur. The combination of electrostatic and hydrophobic (apolar) interactions in polar solvents is believed to lead to aggregation or gelation when such polymer systems are placed under shear. The research should increase understanding of the relatively rare phenomena of shear thickening.