Molecular interpretation for the solvation of poly(acrylamide)s.: I.: Solvent-dependent changes in the C=O stretching band region of poly(N,N-dialkylacrylamide)s

The solvation of poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PNdMA) and poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) (PNdEA) in various protic and aprotic solvents has been studied by using infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Because PNdMA and PNdEA have the same polar functional group, their IR spectra show quite similar solvent effects. Unexpectedly, the solvent-dependent changes of the C=O stretching vibration (v(C=O)) bands of the two polymers cannot be explained only by dielectric constants of the solvents. Then, infrared spectra of NN-dimethylacetamide (NdMA) and N,N-diethylacetamide (NdEA), monomer models for PNdMA and PNdEA, respectively, in the same solvents as the polymer solutions have also been examined. Interestingly, the solvent-dependent spectra in the v(C=O) band region of NdMA and NdEA are correlated with those of PNdMA and PNdEA, respectively, except for slight deviations, which may be ascribed to molecular mobility and/or exclusive volume. These correlations permit one to regard the solvation of the polymers as that of the corresponding monomers. As a result, we have proposed the assignments of v(C=O) bands for the PNdMA and PNdEA solutions regarding the interactions between solvents and NdMA and NdEA as hydrogen bondings. In the IR spectra of PNdMA and PNdEA in the protic solvents, two C=O bands are mainly observed; one appears at a similar frequency to that of a C=O band observed for the monomer solution, and the other is characteristic of the polymer systems. The former band is likely to reflect the solvation behavior of PNdMA and PNdEA. The results clearly show that the solvation of a polymer can be interpreted at the molecular level using infrared spectroscopy sensitive to solvent effects.