Synthesis and Structural Properties of Branched Polymers in Solution.

Two series of graft polymers dextran-polyacrylamide (D-PAA) corresponding to the theoretical model of spherical polymer brushes, were synthesized. PAA was grafted to dextran of different molecular weight (Mw=20 000 and Mw=70 000). Samples were identified and characterized by ¹H NMR spectroscopy, self-exclusion chromatography coupled with light-scattering, refractometry detectors and viscometry. The peculiarities of initiation process of radical copolymerization using Ce(IV) were investigated. It was shown that Dextran save the conformation of compact coil during grafting process. It was confirmed that branched polymer are more compact in comparison with their linear analogs. It was determined that intramolecular structure of D-PAA copolymers depends on the distance between PAA grafts as well as their conformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]