Abstract

A Study on UV-Visible Spectrocopy and X-Ray Diffraction of the Interaction of NR and PEO Based Block Copolymers with Cationic Dyes

Author(s): Prema Sukumar and K. S. Usha Devi

A series of block copolymers were prepared from polyethylene oxide (PEO) of varying molecular weigh and hydroxy terminated liquid natural rubber (HTNR) by solution polymerization. Two phase morphology of these block copolymers was confirmed by analytical means1. The inherent property of PEO to complex with cationic dyes is shown by the NR/PEO block copolymer. The block copolymer thus show appreciable absorption of the three cationic dyes, viz., malachite green (MG), safranine T (ST) and methylene blue (MB). The spectral studies on the virgin copolymer and the dye stained copolymer show that the dye solutions interact with the PEO segments of the copolymers indicated by a hypsochromic shift. XRD shows that cationic dye complexation does bring about significant changes in the crystallinity of the block copolymers.