Structure and crystallization of molecular complexes between poly(ethylene oxide) and hydroxybenzenes

Abstract

The phase diagrams of the binary systems poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-resorcinol and poly(ethylene oxide)-p-nitrophenol show the presence of molecular complexes with well-defined stoichiometries. The crystal structure of these two molecular complexes has been determined from wide-angle x-ray diffraction patterns of stretched films and spherulites. The morphology of the two complexes crystallized from the melt is investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and small-angle x-ray scattering. The crystallization of the PEO-resorcinol complex from the melt gives integral-folded crystals with either extended chains (EC) or n-folded chains (n-FC). As observed for PEO oligomers, the fraction of EC crystals of the PEO-resorcinol complex increases with the crystallization temperature to give finally only EC crystals but in a larger range of crystallization temperatures than for pure PEO. On the other hand, the PEO-p-nitrophenol complex crystallizes over all the studied crystallization range as stable nonintegral-folded (NIF) crystals. Two proposals related to the crystal structure of these complexes and their mode of growth are invoked to explain these two greatly different morphologies at the lamellar level.