title: Comparison of the kinetics of chain aggregation and chain collapse in dilute polymer solutions.
abstract: The rates of chain aggregation of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) in acetonitrile (AcN) and in the mixed solvent of AcN+water (10 vol%) were determined by static light scattering and compared with the rates of chain collapse [Maki, J. Chem. Phys. 126, 134901 (2007)]. Dilute solutions of PMMA with the molecular weight m{w}=6.4 x 10{6} and in the concentration range of (0.8-5)x10;{-4}gcm;{3} were quenched below the cloud point, and the weight-average molecular weight M{w} and z -average square radius of gyration S;{2}_{z} for clusters of PMMA chains were measured as a function of the time t after the quench and the concentration c . The measurement of chain aggregation was carried out up to the cluster size of M{w}m{w} approximately 30 , which required time periods of hours to several days depending on the concentration and solvent. The chain aggregation in AcN+water occurred much faster than that in AcN. The growth of clusters in both the solvents was represented by the exponential function as M{w} approximately e;{gct} and S;{2}_{z} approximately e{hct} , where g and h represent the intrinsic rate of chain aggregation. The ratio sigma of the intrinsic rate in AcN+water to that in AcN was estimated to be 9 by taking a rough average of the ratios 9.4 obtained from g and 8.8 from h . This value is comparable to the ratio 11 of the rate of chain collapse of PMMA in AcN+water (10 vol%) to that in AcN. This close value of the ratios indicates that the nature of solvent would affect the rates of chain collapse and chain aggregation through a similar mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Gunma University, Kiryu 376-8515, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maki
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dobashi
authors.forename: Mitsuo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakata