| Abstract: | A novel family of amphipathic copolymers based on carboxymethyl cellulose (CM‐cellulose) has been synthesized through ultrasonic irradiation. Their micellar conformation in aqueous solution was studied by dynamic laser scattering, environmental scanning electron microscopy and gel permeation chromatography. The results show that conformation of copolymer molecules is totally different from that of CM‐cellulose because of the introduction of the surface active macromonomers. Due to the influence of hydrophobic character and molecular weight, different amphipathic copolymers have different micellar conformations, such as cylindrical, spheroidal or ellipsoidal micelles. In the range of concentration tested, the normalized first‐order autocorrelation function g(1)(τ) of a copolymer of CM‐cellulose and poly(ethylene oxide) dodecyl ether acrylate does not fit a single‐exponential decay, indicating a polydisperse system and the existence of species of different shapes and size. At different concentrations, the hydrodynamic radii of micelles (R) almost distribute into two regions of smaller and larger size. With increasing copolymer concentration, the region of smaller R remains in the range 30–100 nm and is considered to represent monomolecular micelles, while the larger R region increases gradually with concentration, which means that polymolecular micelles increase in size. © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry |
