Electrostatic interactions between biopolymer groups

Polyelectrolytes (polyanions or polycations) are an important class of functionalized polymers with charged groups attached to the chains [9-13]. The physicochemical behavior of these polymers is dominated by the attractive interactions between the fixed charges and counterions, and by the long-range repulsive interactions between the electric charges located on the macromolecular chains [63]. Electrostatic interactions between polymers and metal ions are found in many important biopolymers and... 

Thermodynamically unfavourable interactions are ubiquitous in mixed biopolymer systems. As described in chapters 3 and 5, they arise mainly from excluded volume effects — the physical volume of one biopolymer molecule is inaccessible to other biopolymer molecules — and also from electrostatic repulsion between like-charged groups on different molecules (Ogston, 1970 Nagasawa and Takahashi, 1972 Tanford, 1961). 

In general, the properties of a biosystem and a synthetic polymer as well as the nature of the biological medium dictate the degree and type of interaction between a biostructure and a polymer. The biocompatibility of synthetic polymers depends on their chemical nature, physical state, and macroscopic form, which can be modified by functionalization of the polymer skeleton. Many biopolymers, such as proteins and nucleic acids, are natural poly electrolytes. Similarly, the outer cell membrane of living cells has charged groups. The biological medium is an electrolyte with an aqueous phase. Therefore, electrostatic... 

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