July 2024
Intermediate to advanced
280 pages
12h 52m
English
Hydrophobically associating polymers are water-soluble polymers containing a small amount of hydrophobic functionality (Figure 74.1). In aqueous solutions, these hydrophobic groups can associate to minimize their exposure to the solvent, similar to the formation of micelles by a surfactant above its critical micelle concentration (CMC) (Figure 74.2). Polymer association can result in solution properties not available with conventional water-soluble polymers.
The first associating polymers were prepared as models to mimic conformation behavior of proteins. Hydrophobically modified ethoxylated urethane (HEUR) polymers were introduced in the 1960s and eventually found significant ...
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