Polymer−Surfactant Interactions. A Quantitative Approach to the Enthalpy of Transfer of Poly(Ethylene Glycol)s from Water to the Aqueous Sodium Perfluoroalkanoates Solutions

The enthalpy of transfer (ΔHt) of nonionic polymers at a fixed concentration from water to aqueous substrate solutions as a function of the substrate concentration (fSmS) was determined. The substrates studied are sodium perfluorobutanoate to sodium perfluorooctanoate, and the polymers are poly(ethyleneglycol)s with molecular weights of 400 and 35 000. For the PEG 400-sodium perfluoroheptanoate−water systems, measurements were also performed at some polymer compositions. As a general feature, the enthalpy of transfer steeply changes with fSmS, reaching a maximum beyond which it decreases, tending to level off. A qualitative analysis of the enthalpy data assigned the steep increase of ΔHt to…