Viscometric study of poly(sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonate) and two random copolymers

Effects of the polyanion synthesis conditions and composition on the viscometric behavior of poly(sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonate) (PAMPS) and two random copolymers, poly(sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonate-co-methylmethacrylate) (PAMPSMM) and poly(sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonate-co-tert-butylacrylamide) (PAMPSTBA), in a wide range of concentrations were reported in this paper. The experimental data obtained in salt-free aqueous solution were plotted in terms of the Fuoss and the Rao equations in order to obtain the intrinsic viscosity values. The C∗ values obtained as the reciprocal of the intrinsic viscosity were compared with the experimentally determined values and with those calculated according to the Odijk theory. An acceptable agreement between C∗ values obtained by different approaches was found for the PAMPS samples with high molar masses (0.83 × 106–1.4 × 106 g/mol). For the same charge density and the same concentration the reduced viscosity values were higher for PAMPSMM comparative with PAMPSTBA indicating a higher chain extension of the former copolymer.