Investigation of the size distribution of non-ionic micelles formed from a polystyrene–polyisoprene block copolymer in N,N-dimethylacetamide

Abstract

Solutions of a polystyrene–polyisoprene block copolymer in N,N-dimethylacetamide were studied by gel permeation chromatography. The effect of temperature on the equilibrium between free copolymer chains and micelles was studied qualitatively from 26 to 110°C. Micelles studied in detail at T= 26°C were monodisperse in size, as judged by the reverse flow method. This result was supported by electron microscopy of micelles isolated from solution. Comparison with light scattering results showed that the universal calibration method of calibration was not applicable to the micelles.

The application of gel permeation chromatography in a relatively bad solvent to the analysis of a mixture of a block copolymer with a component homopolymer was demonstrated.