Evaluation of intrinsic viscosity measurements of hydrophobically modified polyelectrolyte solutions

The dilute solution properties of the hydrophobically modified alkali-soluble emulsion (HASE) were examined using the intrinsic viscosity method. The HASE model systems with essentially the same chemical structure and molecular weight but different numbers of carbon in hydrophobe were synthesized for this study. The effects of ionic strength on the intrinsic viscosity measurement of HASE systems were studied. The ionic strength of the dilute polymer solution was found to influence the degree of hydrophobic association and the size of the micellar clusters during dilution. The variations of the above factors were experimentally found to have significant effects on the accuracy, reliability and repeatability of the intrinsic viscosity and Huggins coefficient. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.