CONFORMATIONS OF TELECHELIC IONOMERS IN WATER OIL MICROEMULSIONS

Alpha,omega telechelic ionomers were studied in a water/oil (w/o) microemulsion by conductometric analysis. A thermodynamic model has been proposed based upon the two anticipated ionomer/nanodroplet "core-shell" and "extended-coil" ("dimer") conformations which describe very satisfactorily the conductivity data. In view of the rather weak ionomer-nanodroplet interactions (similar in magnitude to the surfactant-nanodroplet interactions), a Monte Carlo simulation (random walker) was carried out, thus illuminating the controlling influence of the ionomer configurations on the equilibrium conformations of the interacting species.