(772c) Heteropolymers with Adjustable Monomer Sequences (HAMS) as Compatibilizers for Homopolymer Blends

Heteropolymers with adjustable monomer sequences (HAMS), which are also called protein-like copolymers represent a new type of functional copolymer, exhibiting large-scale compositional heterogeneities and long-range correlations along the sequence. HAMS were first introduced by Khokhlov and coworkers who used computer simulations to demonstrate that random copolymers with tunable monomer sequences could, in principle, be generated by adjusting the compactness of a parent homopolymer (H), and then converting selected segments on the polymer surface into P segments by reacting them with species in the surrounding solution. In this talk we describe the results of a computer simulations study aimed at supporting the development of HAMS as compatibilizing agents for a polymer blend containing two homopolymers. Large-scale discontinuous molecular dynamics simulations (DMD) are used to explore the effect of compatibilizer sequence on the miscibility and interfacial characteritics of the polymer blend. The results are compared to those for systems in which the compatibilizers are block, regular alternating and random copolymers.