THE SYSTEM POLY(4-HYDROXYSTYRENE) (POLY(VINYL ACETATE))ACETONE - AN EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL-STUDY

In an effort to assess the intermolecular interactions between poly(4-hydroxystyrene)a) (P4HS) and poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc), two types of experimental measurements were conducted: volumetric properties and vapor pressures of solutions in a common solvent (probe). The PVT measurements for a 50:50 (w/w) binary polymer mixture were conducted over a pressure range from 0 to 100 MPa and a temperature range from 350 to 470 K. The vapor pressures of acetone over a series of ternary systems acetone/P4HS/PVAc, and for four intermediate weight ratios PVAc/P4HS, were measured at 298,15 K, 308,15 K and 318,15 K. PVAc and P4HS interact primarily through hydrogen bonding. The probe molecule (acetone) on the other hand interacts also through hydrogen bonding with P4HS. A recent equation-of-state theory of hydrogen bonding has been used to correlate these measurements. Application of the theory was requiring the knowledge of the volumetric behavior of pure P4HS. Extensive PVT measurements for this polymer have also been conducted. The PVT measurements for the polymer mixture were used in order to estimate the hydrogen bonding parameters for the hydroxyl-ester pair. The vapor pressures of the system acetone/P4HS were used in order to estimate the hydrogen bonding parameters of the hydroxyl-carbonyl pair. On the basis of this information the theory was used to predict the vapour pressures of the ternary system. The theoretical predictions are in quantitative agreement with the experiments.