Physicochemical, Solution, and Colloidal Properties of Pyrrolidone and Caprolactam‐Based Polymers

Abstract

Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) is one of the most widely used polymers for numerous biomedical, pharmaceutical, personal care, and industrial applications. This chapter begins with an introduction to the solution properties of PVP as manifested in a number of different important parameters to describe the physicochemical properties of the polymer in aqueous solutions. One of the key features of PVP is its good solubility in both water and organic solvents. The complexation of PVP with polyphenols is the basis for a variety of applications. The generation of binding isotherms provides insight into the interactions between polymers and cosolutes. There is an increasing interest in interpolymer complexes or polymer‐polymer complexes formed by mixing two or more interacting polymers in solution, since they are used to generate multilayered soft nanomaterials, such as self‐assembled films or nanoparticles. There has been significant interest in subcritical and supercritical fluid technology as substitutes for organic solvents.