Associated structures of aqueous solution of comblike polymers from 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid, dodecylmethacrylate and poly(ethyleneglycol) acrylate macromonomer

Water soluble surface active comb like terpolymers consisting of 0.66:0.22:0.12m (A) and 0.37:0.52:0.11m (B) of 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid (AMPS), dodecylmethacrylate (DoDMAc) and poly(ethylene glycol) monomethacrylate (PEGAc) macromonomer have been designed. The molecular weights of the polymers A and B are estimated to be 9.64×104 and 9.52×104. It is demonstrated that polymer A promotes intermolecular aggregated structures in contrast to polymer B favoring isolated micellar assemblies. The compact coil structures from polymer B effect considerable reduction in interfacial tension of octadecane/water interface to 14.6 mN m−1.