title: Hydration changes of poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) during thermosensitive phase separation in water.
abstract: Hydration changes of poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) (PMoEoEMa) during thermosensitive phase separation in water have been investigated by infrared spectroscopy. The C=O stretching band can be separated into three components assigned to non-hydrated carbonyl groups and singly and doubly hydrogen-bonded carbonyl groups (1728, 1709, and 1685 cm-1, respectively). Relatively large parts of the carbonyl groups (50% in 30 wt % solution) do not form hydrogen bonds even below the transition temperature (Tp) probably because they possess crowded positions near the backbone. The fraction of hydrogen-bonding carbonyl groups decreased during phase separation by approximately 0.2. Among five nu(C-H) bands, the highest- and the lowest-frequency bands (nu(C-H)A and nu(C-H)E) exhibited relatively large red shifts of 8 and 11 cm(-1), respectively. DFT calculations indicate that the formation of a H-bond between the ether oxygen and water leads to blue shifts of nu(C-H) of adjacent alkyl groups and has a larger effect than a direct H-bond to the alkyl groups, namely, C-H...O H-bonds. The fraction of hydrogen-bonding methoxy oxygens estimated from the position of the nu(C-H)A is 1 at <Tp and zero at >Tp. This result indicates that the methoxy oxygens and the carbonyl are more favorably hydrated than the other at <Tp and >Tp, respectively.
authors: Department of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology, University of Fukui, Fukui 910-8507, Japan. y_maeda@acbio2.acbio.fukui-u.ac.jp
authors: Yasushi
authors: Y
authors: Maeda
authors: Tomoyuki
authors: T
authors: Kubota
authors: Hideo
authors: H
authors: Yamauchi
authors: Tadashi
authors: T
authors: Nakaji
authors: Hiromi
authors: H
authors: Kitano