A team from the Rubinstein lab present an equilibrium statistical mechanical theory for the formation of reversible networks in two-component solutions of associative polymers to account for the phase behavior due to hydrogen-bonding, metal–ligand, electrostatic, or other pairwise heterotypic associative interactions. These results demonstrate that reversibly associating polymers have a large parameter space in terms of molecular design, binding energy, and mixture compositions. The predictions are expected to be useful in the rational design of interacting polymer mixtures and the formation of reversible networks.
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