Physicochemical Studies of Ligninsulphonates: Ii. Behavior as Polyelectrolytes

Conductivity, dyestuff adsorption, and viscosity measurements on aqueous solutions of fractionated ligninsulphonate samples having various molecular weights indicate that they behave as flexible polyelectrolytes. There is evidence that ligninsulphonates of molecular weight less than 5000 associate in solution in a manner analogous to micelle formation in colloidal electrolytes. From the variation of intrinsic viscosity with molecular weight, it may be concluded that the degree of molecular branching of the high molecular weight ligninsulphonates is greater than that of the low molecular weight fractions.