A novel hydrophobically associating polymer based on Twin-tailed amphiphilic Monomer: Experimental study and molecular dynamics simulation

A novel twin-tailed amphiphilic monomer named CGS-12 was synthesized. The copolymer GHPAM was prepared by copolymerization of CGS-12 with acrylamide (AM) and acrylic acid (AA) by photoinitiated free radical polymerization in aqueous solution. The critical micelle concentration of CGS-12 is 1.02 x 10(-4) M. The rheological behaviour of the above copolymer was studied. It was found that GHPAM provides better performance at high temperature, exhibits unusual salinity sensitivity and tolerates greater higher shear forces. The viscoelasticity and micro morphologies have been investigated revealing that CGS-12 considerably enhances the crosslinking density and promotes to form a more compact network than the corresponding single-tailed hydrophobic monomer DM-12. Finally, we prove via molecular dynamics simulations that CGS-12 can enhance the hydrophobic association compared to DM-12 while maintaining the same hydrophobic chains content, resulting in improved rheological properties. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A novel twin-tailed amphiphilic monomer named CGS-12 was synthesized and copolymer GHPAM was prepared by photoinitiated free radical polymerization. GHPAM showed better performance at high temperature, exhibited unusual salinity sensitivity, and tolerated greater shear forces. CGS-12 enhanced hydrophobic association compared to DM-12 while maintaining the same hydrophobic chains content, resulting in improved rheological properties.