Supramolecular polymer gels from polystyrene bearing cyclic amidine Group and acrylic acid/n‐butyl acrylate copolymers

ABSTRACT We have prepared supramolecular polymer gels by mixing solutions of a polystyrene bearing cyclic amidine pendant groups (Poly‐A) and copolymers of acrylic acid and n ‐butyl acrylate (Poly‐C), followed by evaporation. FT‐IR analysis indicated that the gels were formed through three‐dimensional network of the amidinium‐carboxylate salt bridge. DSC study showed that the Poly‐A and the Poly‐C were miscible when the salt bridge content was high. On the other hand, the mixtures with small salt bridge content showed phase separation. Dynamic shear measurements showed that the gel prepared from Poly‐A and Poly‐C with acrylic acid unit content of 15% had G' higher than G ″ over a temperature range of −22 °C to 32 °C, in which the G' value reached almost 1 MPa. The gel had a crossover point of G' and G ″ at 32 °C, very close to room temperature, which suggested facile processability. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54 , 765–770