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Surface activity and solubilization of a novel series of functional polyurethane surfactants
Author(s) -
Dong Yang,
Jin Yong,
Wei Deqing
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
polymer international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-0126
pISSN - 0959-8103
DOI - 10.1002/pi.2101
Subject(s) - polyurethane , micelle , pulmonary surfactant , critical micelle concentration , propylene oxide , ethylene oxide , toluene , polymerization , polymer chemistry , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , surface tension , aqueous solution , materials science , toluene diisocyanate , chemical engineering , chemistry , polymer , organic chemistry , copolymer , engineering , physics , quantum mechanics
Functional polyurethane surfactants (di‐block and tri‐block) were synthesized by addition polymerization of 2,4‐toluenediisocyanate with poly(propylene oxide) and monoallyl‐end‐capped poly(ethylene oxide). The chemical structure of the polyurethane surfactants was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared and 1 H NMR spectroscopy. These polymeric surfactants were found to have excellent surface activity. The lowest surface tension of polyurethane surfactant aqueous solutions could be reduced to 37.6 mN m −1 . All the polyurethane surfactants synthesized had low critical micelle concentrations and could reduce the surface tension even at very low concentration levels (10 −6 –10 −5 mol L −1 ). The solubilization of toluene in micelles of the synthesized polyurethane surfactants was studied using UV‐visible spectroscopy, and the results showed that they all exhibited good solubilization capacity. Possible solubilization positions of toluene in the micelles are conjectured. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry