A novel twin-tailed hydrophobically associating copolymer: synthesis, characterization and solution properties

Novel twin-tailed hydrophobically associating copolymers (DDSPAM) were prepared by micellar copolymerization of acrylamide (AM) and sodium vinylsulfonate with N,N-didecyl-N-methyl-N-(4-vinylbenzyl)ammonium chloride in an aqueous solution. The structure and composition of DDSPAM were characterized by H-1-NMR and elemental analysis. While the molecular weights of the copolymers were obtained via static light scattering, the hydrodynamic radius of aggregates was investigated using dynamic light scattering. The critical micellar concentration cmc and gamma (cmc) values of DDSPAM were measured using fluorescence and later correlated with the values obtained from surface tension measurements. In addition, the viscosity stability studies of DDSPAM and hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) revealed that DDSPAM, with twin tails of hydrophobic groups, exhibited better salt tolerance as well as temperature resistance compared to HPAM.