Coacervation of copolymer of diallyldimethylammonium chloride and sodium styrenesulfonate aqueous solution

Coacervate behavior of polyelectrolyte complexes has been studied by many papers. Few studies have focused on the coacervate behavior of amphoteric polymer. In this study, amphoteric copolymer of diallyldimethylammonium chloride (DM) and sodium styrenesulfonate (SS) (the copolymer was noted as DMS) was synthesized with the mole content of SS to DM ranged from 0 to 10%. Firstly, DMS was characterized by static light scattering, FTIR, H-1-NMR, TGA and DSC. Then, its phase and coacervate behaviors were studied. Turbidity was utilized as an indicator for the coacervate formation. It was found that when the SS content was more than 4 mol%, DMS coacervate would be formed in deionized water at a certain concentration. Temperature and pH have no effect on the formation of DMS coacervate. Meanwhile, salts has a great influence on the DMS coacervation. Unlike the results of the other polyelectrolyte complexes, Na2SO4, Na2HPO4, NaCOOCH3, sodium citrate and NaI cannot prevent the DMS coacervate formation. However, the addition of NaCl, NaNO3, NaBr and NaSCN can prevent the coacervate formation. The influence cannot be described by Hofmeister-like behavior. Results of surface tension and fluorescence spectrum presented that the driving forces to formation of DMS coacervate are the electrostatic interaction and the intermolecular hydrophobic interaction.