Donor acceptor interactions in polymeric systems, 7. Structure matching effect in interpolymer EDA complex formation

Interpolymer EDA complex formation between polyesters bearing pendant carbazolyl groups and polyurethanes bearing pendant trinitrofluorenonyl groups was investigated in dioxane at 25°C. Complex formation depends on the degree of polycondensation (DP) as well as on structure matching of polymeric D and polymeric A. With increasing DP, the solubility of the D polymer‐A polymer mixture trends to decrease. Even when the polymer complexes do not precipitate, the Ketelaar's plots do not always fall on a straight line. These phenomena were interpreted as due to higher order complex formation and/or dependence of the formation constant on the fraction of saturation. It was found that polymeric donor acceptor pairs in which the number of atoms in a repeating main chain unit are identical for D and A polymers form a stronger complex than other combinations. It was concluded that structure matching of an interacting pair is a favourable condition to form tight complexes as in the case of antigenantibody interactions.