Synthesis and characterization of high molecular weight hydrophobically modified polyacrylamide nanolatexes using novel nonionic polymerizable surfactants

In this article, nine hydrophobically modified polyacrylamides (HM-PAM) nanolatexes, were synthesized by copolymerizing the acrylamide monomer and novel polymerizable surfactants (surfmers). The reaction was carried out by inverse microemulsion copolymerization technique. The copolymerization was initiated by redox initiators composed of potassium peroxodisulphate and sodium bisulfite. The emulsion was stabilized using mixed tween 85 and span 80 as nonionic emulsifiers. The prepared HM-PAMs were classified into three groups according to the surfmers used in the copolymerization. The chemical structures of the prepared HM-PAMs were confirmed by FT-IR, ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR. The thermal properties were estimated with the thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The size and morphology of the prepared latexes were investigated by the dynamic light scattering (DLS) and the High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM). Finally, the molecular weights of the prepared copolymers were determined by the GPC and the viscosity average molecular weight method. They were situated between 1.58 × 10⁶ and 0.89 × 10⁶.