A water‐soluble CO2‐triggered viscosity‐responsive copolymer of N,N‐dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate and acrylamide

Abstract

ABSTRACTA series of copolymers PDAMs were synthesized with varying monomer ratio of acrylamide (AM) and N,N‐dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). The resulting copolymer solution shows an interesting property of viscosity‐response which is CO2‐triggered and N2‐enabled. Tertiary amine groups of PDAMs experience a reversible transition between hydrophobic and hydrophilic state upon CO2 addition and its removal, which induced different rheological behavior. A combination of zeta‐potential, laser particle‐size analysis, and electrical conductivity analysis indicated that, when the monomer mole ratio of DMAEMA and AM is less than or equal to 3 : 7, the hydrophobic association structure between the copolymer molecules was destroyed by the leading of CO2 and caused a viscosity decrease in its solution. On the contrary, when the monomer mole ratio of DMAEMA and AM is more than 3 : 7, a more extended conformation due to the protonated tertiary amine groups is formed and the enhanced repulsive interactions among the copolymer molecule results in a rise of its solution viscosity. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40872.