Excluded-volume effects on the chain dimensions and transport coefficients of sodium poly(styrene sulfonate) in aqueous sodium chloride

Fifteen samples of sodium poly(styrene sulfonate) with weight-average molecular weights of 3 X 10(4) to 8 X 10(5) have been studied by static and dynamic light scattering and viscometry in 0.05 and 0.5 M aqueous NaCl at 25 degreesC. The measured radii of gyration, translational diffusion coefficients, and intrinsic viscosities at the lower salt concentration exhibit molecular weight dependencies stronger than those predictable for uncharged flexible chains in the good solvent limit. These data and those at the higher NaCl concentration are analyzed, along with previous intrinsic viscosity data covering a broad molecular weight range, in the framework of the quasi-two-parameter QTP) theory with the wormlike chain as the model. It is shown that the relevant theories for the expansion factors in the QTP scheme combined with these theories for the unperturbed wormlike chain are capable of describing the experimental data with a degree of accuracy similar to that known for nonionic flexible polymers. (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.