SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BLOCK COPOLYMERS CONTAINING ACID AND IONOMERIC FUNCTIONALITIES.

It is well known that intermolecular forces play a very significant role in determining polymer properties. For the case of acid containing polymers, it has been reported that the occurrence of hydrogen bonding drastically effects such properties as the glass transition temperature. In addition, mechanical and dielectric relaxations may shift with increasing acid content. In a similar fashion, polymer properties drastically change with the incorporation of ionic groups due to preferential aggregation of these moieties. The focus of this work is on the preparation of the block copolymer precursors via anionic techniques as well as on the polymer modification reactions which introduce ion and acid functionalities.