The synthesis and characterization of copolymers containing 2‐ethylhexyl methacrylate and a quadruple‐hydrogen‐bonding site, 2‐ureido‐4[1H]‐pyrimidone methacrylate (UPyMA), are described. An analogous dimeric hydrogen‐bond‐containing copolymer based on 2‐ethylhexyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid (PEHMA‐co‐MAA) was also synthesized for comparative purposes. The glass‐transition temperatures of the poly(2‐ethylhexyl methacrylate‐co‐2‐ureido‐4[1H]‐pyrimidone methacrylate) (PEHMA‐co‐UPyMA) series increased linearly with increasing UPyMA content. Creep compliance measurements as a function of temperature indicated a decrease in the creep compliance with increasing UPyMA content over the range of 1–10 mol % UPyMA. Melt rheological analysis also showed an increase and lengthening of the plateau modulus as a function of frequency with increasing UPyMA content, as well as increasing complex viscosity as a function of temperature. The analogous PEHMA‐co‐MAA copolymer, which contained 11 mol % methacrylic acid, showed, in the melt rheological analysis, behavior similar to that of the PEHMA‐co‐UPyMA copolymer containing only 1 mol % UPyMA units. The multiple‐hydrogen‐bond‐containing copolymers were successfully analyzed with time–temperature superposition for the construction of master curves. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 4618–4631, 2005

A series of linear and randomly branched poly(alkyl methacrylate)s with pendant 2-ureido-4[1H]-pyrimidone (UPy) groups, which form quadruple hydrogen bonds, were synthesized, and the role of molecular topology on intermolecular hydrogen bonding was investigated. In solution rheological studies of poly(methyl methacrylate-co-UPy methacrylate) (PMMA-co-UPyMA) copolymers, a branched copolymer in the nonassociated state displayed a larger entanglement concentration (C e) than a linear copolymer of equal molar mass. However, Ce of the branched copolymer approached the Ce of the linear analogue as the degree of hydrogen bond associations increased in solution, which suggested the reduced chain dimensions of the branched structure were overcome upon intermolecular association of the UPy groups. A series of linear and branched poly(2-ethylhexyl methacrylate-co-UPy methacrylate) (PEHMA-co-UPyMA) copolymers with 0-10 mol % UPy were utilized for melt rheological studies. A decrease in zero shear viscosity (η 0) and relaxation time suggested that branching reduced entanglement couplings for the unfunctionalized PEHMA homopolymer, and the η0 and relaxation time of the branched and linear polymers approached each another as the UPy content was increased from 0 to 10 mol %. Furthermore, as the UPy content was increased in the copolymer, the plateau modulus (G N 0 ) systematically increased, and the plateau region systematically broadened independent of the chain architecture. Thus, reversible hydrogen-bonding associations between UPy groups dominated the rheological behavior of linear and branched chains in both solution and the melt phase.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract