Temperature-dependent dynamic light scattering studies on dilute aqueous solution of methylcellulose

The inverse-gelation of methylcellulose (MC) is statistically understood for the loop formation, in which trans and gauche conformation are simultaneous. The dynamic light scattering (DLS) studies are performed to understand the temperature-dependent multiple scattering for a dilute solution of MC in an aqueous medium. These conformations further grow to form an entangled network, with a scattered size of 1.7 µm (an average hydrodynamic size) at 75 °C. The area under the light scattered curves at various temperatures is measured to calculate the energies involved in the gelation process. In the view of Maxwell Boltzmann's statistical, the active spheres are the number of sites that interconnect with probability 'α' to form a gel. The 'α' is maximum at the gel point, where all Cayley spheres merged to create a 3D network. The computational studies reveal that entanglement depends on the orientation of MC molecules and non-neighboring intramolecular H bonding (hydrogen bonding). The periodic box of 32 Å and 24 MC surrounded by water molecules suggest a hydrodynamic length of 5.5 nm (diagonal of the periodic box).