Abstract
The importance of hydrogen bonding interactions in promoting polymer miscibility has been the subject of much recent investigation. In this study, we address the question of the effect of molecular size and geometry on the intensity of the hydrogen bonding interaction. To this end, the interaction of the functional group in various molecules with a variety of acid and base polymer matrices has been monitored using infrared spectroscopy. The “probes” used in this study each contained only one functional group per molecule to prevent intra‐molecular association. The probes were acetone, di‐n‐hexyl ketone, 10‐nonadecanone, cyclohexanone, cyclododecanone, isopropanol, 4‐decanol, 10‐nonadecanol, cyclohexanol, and cyclododecanol. The interactions of the base probes with poly‐(vinyl chloride), poly(vinylidine fluoride), phenoxy, poly(styrene‐co‐allyl alcohol), and a variety of cellulosic polymers were studied. Acid probe interactions were measured in poly(pivalolactone), poly(butanediol‐1,4‐terephthalate), poly‐(acetal), poly(ϵ‐caprolactone), poly(vinyl methyl ether), poly(4‐methoxy styrene) and poly(ethylene oxide). The effect of the presumably inert poly(styrene) and ethylene‐propylene rubber matrices on the probe's functional group was studied for comparison.