Use of partial molar volume for determining conformations of macromolecules in a solution

A formula was derived for determining the partial molar volume (PMO) of solute at various concentrations and on this basis a method was developed for determining the PMO at infinite dilution. The partial molar volumes of the homologous series of poly(ethylene glycol) with molecular masses 400, 1000, 1500, 2000, 4000, 20000 in aqueous solutions at infinite dilution were determined. Analysis of the calculated and experimental PMO showed that poly(ethylene glycol) molecules exist in dilute solutions in the conformations of elongated helices. In addition, the high-molecular polyethylene glycol molecules include the areas of statistical chaos, which leads to sites unavailable for the solvent molecules. Based on literature data were revealed the values of PMO for highly concentrated solutions of poly(ethylene glycol) PEG 400, PEG 4000, and PEG 6000. Effect of concentration on the structure of PEG solutions was demonstrated. We found that in the temperature range 25–40°C the conformational transitions were not observed.