Evidence for helical structures in poly(l-olefin sulfones) by TEM

Abstract

Advances in the techniques of TEM, including the preparation of ultrathin vertically shadowed platinum-carbon (Pt-C) replicas, have allowed the direct recognition of single-structural features, such as DNA , pectin helices or polysiloxane polymers. Here we report some observations on the chain conformations of serval poly (olefin sulfones). We find strong evidence for the presence of some helical conformations, which had been inferred for over a decade but could not so far be established by other methods.Unusual conformational behavior of poly(olefin sulfones) was indicated over twenty-five years ago. Dilute solutions of several poly (1-olefin sulfones), [-CH2-CHR-S02-]X, in non-polar solvents exhibited unexpectedly strong low-frequency dielectric dispersion, with relaxation times typical of rigid tumbling or of the terminal normal mode. In contrast, polysulfones made from olefins with internal double bonds show no low-frequency dielectric loss. To explain these facts, we refer to the crucial experiments of Fawcett and Fee (1982), who prepared terpolymers of 1-hexene,