NUEVOS FLUIDOS ESTRUCTURADOS BASADOS EN MEZCLAS DE POLÍMEROS DENDRONIZADOS Y UN SURFACTANTE CATIÓNICO CAPAZ DE FORMAR MICELAS GUSANO

Abstract

Two new water soluble dendronized polymers (PLn) from acrylate Behera amine monomer of different molecular weights were successfully synthesized. GPC and DLS results indicated that these PLn have a remarkable tendency to form aggregates in solution. However, the addition of any PLn to water did not cause any increase in viscosity up to concentrations of 1000 ppm. The possible interactions of PLn with the cationic surfactant CTAT were explored by solution rheometry. The highest association tendency with CTAT was found for PL1 at the maximum polymer concentration before phase separation (i.e., 100 ppm). The solution viscosity at low shear rates could be increased by an order of magnitude upon addition of 100 ppm of PL1 to a 20 mM CTAT solution. The fluid obtained was highly structured and exhibited shear thinning behavior. PL1/CTAT mixtures exhibited an improved elastic character and a pronounced thixotropic behavior. In the case of the polymer with a higher theoretical molecular weight, PL2, its association with CTAT leads to an extraordinary doubling of solution viscosity with just 0.25 ppm polymer addition to a 20 mM CTAT solution. However, such synergistic viscosity enhancement saturated at rather low concentrations (25 ppm).