Multidimensional characterization of polyelectrolytes and interpolyelectrolyte complexes in aqueous solutions Abstract: This PhD thesis is dedicated to the study of polyelectrolytes and their self-assembly in aqueous solutions. The morphology and ionization state of individual polymer chains were investigated as well as their co-assembly with oppositely charged species. First, the charge regulation of short and long weak polyelectrolytes in aqueous solution was investigated to deeper understand their pH-responsive properties. The changes of ionization degree and charge of oligopeptides composed of 5 amino acids with acid side-chains and 5 with basic side chains were followed upon varying the pH in order to reveal the effect of interactions between the like-charged and oppositely charged groups. It was shown that intra-molecular electrostatic interactions and conformational flexibility caused the suppression of the total charge and enhancement of ionization of the peptides. To get an insight into the distribution of local H+ concentration in the proximity of a polyelectrolyte chain, a modified polyelectrolyte structure was used with a fluorescent pH- indicator, covalently attached at the end of the chain. Ionization of the pH-responsive fluorophore revealed its effective pK which was compared with the local...

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:42:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ZilvamMS_TESE_reduzido.pdf: 9108618 bytes, checksum: 613dad3fd1a359dce84e2af73b067934 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-22 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Surfactant-polymer interactions are widely used when required rheological properties for specific applications, such as the production of fluids for oil exploration. Studies of the interactions of chitosan with cationic surfactants has attracted attention by being able to cause changes in rheological parameters of the systems making room for new applications. The commercial chitosan represents an interesting alternative to these systems, since it is obtained from partial deacetylation of chitin: the residues sites acetylated can then be used for the polymer-surfactant interactions. Alkyl ethoxylated surfactants can be used in this system, since these non-ionic surfactants can interact with hydrophobic sites of chitosan, modifying the rheology of solutions or emulsions resultants, which depends on the relaxation phenomenon occurring in these systems. In this work, first, inverse emulsions were prepared from chitosan solution as the dispersed phase and cyclohexane as the continuous phase were, using CTAB as a surfactant. The rheological analysis of these emulsions showed pronounced pseudoplastic behavior. This behavior was attributed to interaction of "loops" of chitosan chains. Creep tests were also performed and gave further support to these discussions. Subsequently, in order to obtain more information about the interaction of chitosan with non-ionic surfactants, solutions of chitosan were mixed with C12E8 and and carried out rheological analysis and dynamic light scattering. The systems showed marked pseudoplastic behavior, which became less evident when the concentration of surfactant was increased. Arrhenius and KWW equations were used to obtain parameters of the apparent activation energy and relaxation rate distribution, respectively, to which were connected to the content of surfactant and temperature used in this work / As intera??es tensoativo-pol?mero s?o amplamente usadas quando s?o necess?rias propriedades reol?gicas para aplica??es espec?ficas, como a produ??o de fluidos para explora??o do petr?leo. Estudos das intera??es de quitosana com tensoativos cati?nicos tem chamado aten??o por serem capazes de causar mudan?as nos par?metros reol?gicos dos sistemas abrindo espa?o para novas aplica??es. A quitosana comercial representa uma alternativa interessante para estes sistemas, uma vez que ela ? obtida a partir da desacetila??o parcial da quitina: os s?tos acetilados residuais podem, ent?o, ser usados para as intera??es pol?mero-tensoativo. Tensoativos alquil etoxilados podem ser utilizados neste sistema, pois estes tensoativos n?o i?nicos podem interagir com s?tios hidrof?bicos da quitosana, modificando a reologia de solu??es ou emuls?es resultantes, os quais dependem do fen?meno de relaxa??o ocorrendo nestes sistemas. Neste trabalho, primeiramente, foram preparadas emuls?es inversas de solu??o de quitosana como fase dispersa e cicloexano como fase cont?nua usando CTAB como tensoativo. A an?lise reol?gica destas emuls?es mostrou pronunciado comportamento pseudopl?stico. Esta pseudoplasticidade foi atribu?da ? intera??o por la?os loops de cadeias de quitosana. Ensaios de flu?ncia tamb?m foram executados e deram maior suporte a estas discuss?es. Em seguida, a fim de se obter maiores informa??es sobre as intera??es da quitosana com tensoativos n?o i?nicos, solu??es de quitosana foram misturadas com C12E8 e levadas ?s an?lises reol?gica e de espalhamento din?mico de luz. Os sistemas tiveram elevado comportamento pseudopl?stico, o qual se tornava menos evidente, quando o teor de tensoativo foi aumentado. Equa??es de Arrhenius e de KWW foram usadas para obter par?metros de energia de ativa??o aparente e de distribui??o da taxa de relaxa??o, respectivamente, aos quais foram relacionados em fun??o do teor de tensoativo e da temperatura, usados neste trabalho