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Complex Formation Between Polyelectrolytes and Ionic Surfactants

Paulo S. Kuhn, Yan Levin, Marcia C. Barbosa

cond-matarXiv:cond-mat/9806226

Abstract

The interaction between polyelectrolyte and ionic surfactant is of great importance in different areas of chemistry and biology. In this paper we present a theory of polyelectrolyte ionic-surfactant solutions. The new theory successfully explains the cooperative transition observed experimentally, in which the condensed counterions are replaced by ionic-surfactants. The transition is found to occur at surfactant densities much lower than those for a similar transition in non-ionic polymer-surfactant solutions. Possible application of DNA surfactant complex formation to polynucleotide delivery systems is also mentioned.

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