Synthesis and characterization of an amphiphilic graft copolymer with a poly(acrylic acid) backbone and n ‐octylphenyl polyoxyethylene side chains

A novel, well‐defined, amphiphilic graft copolymer was synthesized by the free‐radical copolymerization of acrylic acid and an amphiphilic macromonomer, n ‐octylphenyl polyoxyethylene acrylate. This acrylic copolymer was characterized by IR and 1 H‐NMR. The number‐average molecular weight was determined by gel permeation chromatography to be 4.37 × 10 4 (weight‐average molecular weight/number‐average molecular weight = 1.23). The graft copolymer exhibited good solubility in water and high surface activity at much lower concentrations. The molecules of the AA–C 8 PhEO 10 Ac copolymer formed polymolecular micelles at 3.0 × 10 −4 g/mL. The aggregation of the copolymer was examined in aqueous solution by measurement of the fluorescence of 2‐ p ‐ toluidinylnaphthalene 6‐sulfonate as a fluorescent probe. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008