The role of charges in determining the water solubility of polyelectrolytes, a question of considerable relevance to biology, is currently unresolved. We use computer simulations to study the purely Coulombic phase separation of flexible polyelectrolytes with monovalent counterions in an athermal solvent. In agreement with recent theories we find that the critical temperature for this transitio...

– Multivalent ions can induce condensation of like-charged polyelectrolytes into compact states, a process that requires different ion valence for different polyelectrolyte species. We have examined the trivalent ion induced condensation behavior in binary anionic polyelectrolyte mixtures consisting of DNA coils and F-actin rods, and observe a micro-phase separation between the two polyelectrol...

Nano-films consisting of an alternating sequence of positively and negatively charged polyelectrolyteshave been prepared by means of the electrostatic layer-by-layer sequential assembly technique on mildsteels. The mild steels were pretreated electrochemically to modify the mild steel surface. The modificationof the mild steel surface resulted in increasing the adhesion of the obtained nano-fil...

The accumulation of polyelectrolytes at the interface between water and nonpolar fluids is an important process in both environmental and biological systems. For instance, polyelectrolytes such as humic acids are highly charged molecules that play a role in the remediation of water contaminated by oil, and the adsorption of other polyelectrolytes such as proteins and DNA to cellular surfaces is...

The synthesis and characterization of a novel class of highly-metallized, redox-active polyelectrolytes that employ phosphorus as a scaffold for the installation of transition metals is described. Pyrolysis of thin films of the title polyelectrolytes resulted in the production of magnetite crystallites and ill-defined carbon-, phosphorus- and oxygen-rich phases in char yields of nearly 50%.

Aqueous solutions of polyelectrolytes are studied here by means of neutron scattering, with emphasis on backbone hydrophobicity and counter ion specific effects. Ionene polyelectrolytes with varying chain charge density and different counter ions are considered. Their neutron scattering data feature a number of aspects and trends that clearly deviate from the predictions of the existing theory....

We herein find that graphene oxide (GO) can enhance the fluorescence signal of conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) with charge transfer characteristics under certain conditions, which is due to a relative hydrophobic environment of CPEs upon complexation with GO.

Using dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), we model the interfacial adsorption of pH-responsive polyelectrolytes and polyelectrolyte-grafted nanoparticles (PNPs) at a planar water-oil interface. The electrostatic interactions in the presence of the dielectric discontinuity across the interface are modeled by exploiting the Groot method, which uses an iterative method to solve the Poisson equati...

We investigate the interaction between conjugated polyelectrolytes and surfactants in solution and solid phases. We identify multiple modes of interaction and propose a model that accounts for their interplay and pronounced variation in photophysics over a wide range of conditions.

A P-C bond-forming reaction has been applied to the convenient preparation of tetraarylphosphonium polyelectrolytes (TPELs) from aryl dihalides and diphenylphosphine. A TPEL having a thermal decomposition temperature of 460 °C that is also stable to heating at 65 °C in 6 M NaOH(aq) for at least 24 h has been prepared by this method.