Molecular Weight (Mn) and Functionality Effects on Cup Formation and Stability

Co-Authors: Sagar Vijay Gade, Minghang Chen, Ameya M. Natu, Catheryn Hancock, and Cynthia Riddles

The formation of colloidal unimolecular polymer, CUP, particles from single polymer strands was investigated as a function of molecular weight. The CUP particle size was correlated with the absolute molecular weight and its distribution. The characteristics of the particles were evaluated with respect to viscosity, acid number, size distribution and stability. The particle size varied from less than three nanometers to above 8 nanometers representing polymers from 6,000 to 130,000 molecular weight. Lower molecular weight polymers were found to be unstable.