1H NMR and IR study of temperature-induced phase transition of negatively charged poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide-co-sodium methacrylate) copolymers in aqueous solutions

H-1 NMR and IR spectroscopies were used to investigate the temperature-induced phase transition behaviour of poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide-co-sodium methacrylate) [P(IPMAAm/MNa)] copolymers, containing in aqueous solutions negatively charged MNa units (i = 1-10 mol%), and the obtained results were compared with those obtained for poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide) (PIPMAAm) homopolymer. For PIPMAAm/H2O solution, IR spectra indicate that the transition temperatures for the hydrophilic C=O groups are slightly higher (by similar to 2 K) in comparison with hydrophobic CH3 groups. The decreasing values of phase-separated fraction p(max) and the decrescent hysteresis during gradual heating and cooling, both with increasing content of MNa units i in the copolymer, show that for copolymers with i >= 5 mol% the globular-like structures formed at temperatures above the respective LCST are rather porous and disordered with relatively low degree of polymer-polymer hydrogen bonding. While for P(IPMAAm/MNa) copolymers with i >= 5 mol% most water molecules are expelled from globular structures, for i < 5 mol% a certain portion of water (HDO) molecules is rather tightly bound in globular structures; at the same time no releasing process was detected for the bound water even for 90 h. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.