Polyanions polymer brushes

Besides investigating nonequilibrium complexes, it is equally challenging to direct electrostatically driven complex formation into equilibrium. One vision was to obtain anisotropic complexes by mixing rod-like polycations and polyanions, such as anionic and cationic cylindrical brushes or cationic cylindrical brushes and DNA. In aqueous solution scrambled egg structures were always obtained by mixing cylindrical brush polymers with polystyrene sulfonate and with PVP side chains as well as by mixing cylindrical brushes with PVP or PLL side chains with... 

Fig. 6 Force-distance profiles observed for forced dissociation between polycation linked to an AEM tip and a polycation brush observed in aqueous 1 M NaCl solution. Successful anchoring events were observed to yield either ladder-like desorption profiles, or stretching of polymer chains just prior to the unbinding events, referred to as type I and II, respectively. The type I desorption profiles was interpreted to represent desorption of ionically bound train like segments of the AFM tethered polyanion from the surface of the polycation brush right panel), whereas polymer stretching signatures and subsequent forced dissociation events (type II) was suggested to arise from polycation-polyanion pair interactions embedded within the bmsh, and with opposite chain polarity as for the type I. Reprinted with permission from Spruijt et al. [27]. Copyright (2012) American Chemical Society...

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