Effect of Molecular Weight on Cloud Point of Aqueous Solution of Poly (ethylene oxide)-Poly (propylene oxide) Alternating Multiblock Copolymer.

A poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) alternating multiblock (AMB) copolymer with various molecular weights was prepared via precipitation fractionation from an acetone/n-hexane mixture. The cloud point (T) of the aqueous solution of PEO-PPO AMB copolymer decreased as the number-average molecular weight of the sample increased. This phenomenon is generally observed for certain homopolymer systems having a lower critical solution temperature, such as PEO/water and poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide)/water systems. The relationship between the T of the solutions and the number of monomer units of the AMB copolymer suggests that the Shultz-Flory theory is applicable to this system.