The solution behavior of poly(vinylpyrrolidone): its clouding in salt solution, solvation by water and isopropanol, and interaction with sodium dodecyl sulfate.

This article deals with the solution properties of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) in salt and surfactant environment. The cloud point (CP) of PVP has been found to be induced by the salts NaCl, KCl, KBr, Na2SO4, MgSO4, and Na3PO4. On the basis of CP values for a salt at different [PVP], the energetics of the clouding process have been estimated. The effect of the surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), on the salt-induced CP has also been studied, and reduction in CP at low [SDS] and increase in CP at high [SDS] have been observed. The water vapor adsorption of PVP has been determined by isopiestic method. The results display a BET Type III isotherm whose analysis has helped to obtain the monolayer capacity of PVP and formation of multilayer on it. The solvation of PVP in a solution of water and a water-isopropanol mixture has been determined by conductometry from which contribution of the individual components were estimated. The interaction of PVP with SDS in solution led to formation of a complex entity, which has been studied also by conductometry adopting a binding-equilibrium scheme. SDS has been found to undergo two types of binding as monomers in the pre- critical aggregation concentration (CAC) range and as small clusters in the post CAC region. The stoichiometries of binding and binding constant were evaluated.