Graft copolymers as stabilizers for oil-in-water emulsions Part 1. Synthesis of the copolymers and their behaviour as monolayers spread at the air-water and oil-water interfaces

摘要

A series of graft (comb) copolymers having a range of emulsifying properties has been prepared. Each molecule has a backbone of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and a number of side-chains of methoxy-poly(ethylene oxide) (MeOPEG). The intermediate PEG methacrylate was synthesized by the ester interchange method. The copolymeriza-tion was carried out by means of the free radical method. The molecules were prepared having different number, length and spacing of the PEG side-chains and their overall molecular weight was varied between 7000 and 20000. The variation of surface interfacial pressure, π, with compression of spread monofilms of these copolymers was studied. For the interfacial studies the influence of the solvency conditions of the anchor (PMMA) on the π-A curves and on the resulting conformational changes occurring at such interfaces was also investigated.