Phase-selective solubility of poly(N-alkylacrylamide)s

The extent of the phase-selective solubility of poly(N-alkylacrylamide)s was studied by UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy using poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and poly(N-octadecylacrylamide) as representative polar and nonpolar poly(N-alkylacrylamide)s in a mixture of polar and nonpolar thermomorphic solvents. Phase-selective solubilities of greater than 10000: 1 were seen with each labeled polymer in polar and nonpolar solvents such as heptane and DMF or heptane and 90% EtOH-H2O. Using a poly(N-acryloxysuccinimide) as a common precursor, a pool-split synthesis was devised to prepare a library of poly(N-alkylacrylamide)s whose members varied only in the size of their N-alkyl substituent. The solubilities of these library members were measured in both the polar and nonpolar phases of a thermomorphic heptane/90% EtOH-H2O mixture at 25 degreesC. Such solvent mixtures are miscible hot (70 degreesC) and biphasic cold (25 degreesC). The results show that poly(N-pentylacrylamide) is selectively soluble (>99.5%) in the polar EtOH-rich phase at rest. Poly(N-alkylacrylamide)s with larger N-alkyl groups are predominantly (C-6, 85%; C-7, 95%) or exclusively (>C-8, >99.5%) in the heptane-rich phase at rest.