Abstract
The chain trajectory within thermoreversible gels of syndiotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) (sPMMA) has been studied by small-angle neutron scattering in three solvents: chlorobenzene, bromobenzene, and toluene. It is shown that in the investigated scattering domain, the chains are rigid due to their helical conformation. Theoretical fits of the scattering curves are consistent with a double-stranded helical form in which the inner helix adopts a structure already proposed by Kusuyama et al. Just after gel melting, chains take on a new helical conformation which turns out to be more stable in chlorobenzene than in the other two solvents. The reliability of the fitting procedure is also discussed.
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 966-972 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Macromolecules |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 24 Feb 1997 |