Self-association dynamics and morphology of short polymeric PBA-b/co-PAA surfactants

The self-association characteristics of very short and well-defined poly(butyl acrylate)-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PBA-b-PAA) block copolymers in water have been studied. The diblocks are asymmetric with the PBA block longer than the PAA block, giving rise to hollow sphere morphology. This is affirmed by experimental data and theoretical evaluations of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic domain sizes, as well as a value close to 1 for the ratio of the hydrodynamic to the gyration radius of the micelles. Besides, the untypically short PBA blocks (polymerization number around 15) render the micelles dynamic. Indications in support include among others the following: the CMC (critical micellar concentration) values depend, together with the aggregation numbers and the micellar sizes, on the block lengths, as predicted by theory; above the CMC their sizes are concentration-independent, while the micelles disappear below CMC. A comparison was also made with a random PBA-co-PAA copolymer of similar length, which self-associates at an apparent CMC 1 order of magnitude larger than those of the block copolymers, but the size of the formed micelles depends on the concentration. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.