Solubilization of n-alkanes into polyazomethines having flexible (n-alkyloxy)methyl side chains: 2. Theoretical model for the estimation of solubility limit

Abstract

In a previous paper (H. Kim et al., Polymer, 1996, 37, 2573), the solubility limit of n-alkanes in blends of n-alkane/polyazomethine having flexible (n-alkyloxy)methyl side chains was reported as a function of side chain lengths of the polymer and chain lengths of n-alkanes. This paper proposes a theoretical model for estimating the solubility limit of n-alkanes. The model assumes that n-alkanes solubilize only into the layered side chain domain and that the side chain has a hyperbolic tangent function profile due to very high grafting density and density uniformity. The calculated solubility limit of,l-alkane increases and decreases with increasing chain length of the side chain and chain length of the n-alkane, respectively. The model predictions are in qualitative agreement with experimental results (H. Kim et al., Polymer, 1996, 37, 2573) although the former are much lower than the latter. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.