1
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Stevens KC, Tirrell MV. Impact of a Lightly Branched Star Polyelectrolyte Architecture on Polyelectrolyte Complexes. ACS Macro Lett 2024; 13:688-694. [PMID: 38780149 DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.4c00167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
The effect of charge density in blocky and statistical linear polyelectrolytes on polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) properties has been studied with the finding that increased charge density in a polyelectrolyte tends to increase the salt resistance and modulus of a PEC across various polyelectrolyte pairs. Here, we demonstrate the ability to orthogonally alter PEC salt resistance while maintaining rheological properties and internal structure by going from linear to lightly branched architectures with similar total degrees of polymerization. Using a model system built around glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and thiol-epoxy "click" functionalization, we create a library of homologous linear, 4-armed, 6-armed, and 8-armed star polyelectrolytes. The PECs formed from these model polyelectrolyte pairs are then characterized via optical microscopy, rheology, and small-angle X-ray scattering to evaluate their salt resistance, mechanical properties, and internal structure. We argue that our results are due to the difference between linear charge density or charge per unit length along backbone segments for each polyelectrolyte and spatial charge density, the number of charges per unit volume of the polyelectrolyte prior to complexation. Our findings suggest that linear charge density is the dominant factor in determining intermolecular interactions of the complex, leading to identical rheological and structural behavior, whereas the spatial charge density primarily influences the stability of the complexes. These distinct mechanisms for altering various sought-after PEC properties offer greater potential applications in precision design of polyelectrolyte complex materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaden C Stevens
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Matthew V Tirrell
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
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2
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Edwards CER, Lakkis KL, Luo Y, Helgeson ME. Coacervate or precipitate? Formation of non-equilibrium microstructures in coacervate emulsions. SOFT MATTER 2023; 19:8849-8862. [PMID: 37947798 DOI: 10.1039/d3sm00901g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
Non-equilibrium processing of aqueous polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) coacervates is critical to many applications. In particular, many coacervate-forming systems are known to become trapped in out-of-equilibrium states (e.g., precipitation). The mechanism and conditions under which these states form, and whether they age, is not clearly understood. Here, we elucidate the influence of processing on the PEC coarsening mechanism as it varies with flow during mixing for a model system of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) and poly(acrylic acid sodium salt) in water. We demonstrate that flow conditions can be used to toggle the formation of rough, precipitate-like aggregates of micron-scale PEC structures. These structures form at compositions with viscous-dominant equilibrium rheology, and observations of their formation via optical microscopy suggest that they comprise colloidal aggregates of PEC coacervate droplets. We further show that these aggregates exhibit micron-scale coarsening, with a mixing time-dependent characteristic aging time scale. The results show that the formation of precipitate-like structures is not solely determined by composition, but is instead highly sensitive to mass transport and colloidal instability effects. Our observations suggest that the details of mixing flow can provide non-equilibrium structural control of a broad range of PEC coacervate materials orthogonally to structure-property inspired polymeric design. We anticipate that these findings will open the door for future studies on the control of non-equilibrium PEC formation and structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chelsea E R Edwards
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080, USA.
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
| | - Kareem L Lakkis
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080, USA.
| | - Yimin Luo
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080, USA.
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
| | - Matthew E Helgeson
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080, USA.
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
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3
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Liu X, Mokarizadeh AH, Narayanan A, Mane P, Pandit A, Tseng YM, Tsige M, Joy A. Multiphasic Coacervates Assembled by Hydrogen Bonding and Hydrophobic Interactions. J Am Chem Soc 2023; 145:23109-23120. [PMID: 37820374 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c06675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/13/2023]
Abstract
Coacervation has emerged as a prevalent mechanism to compartmentalize biomolecules in living cells. Synthetic coacervates help in understanding the assembly process and mimic the functions of biological coacervates as simplified artificial systems. Though the molecular mechanism and mesoscopic properties of coacervates formed from charged coacervates have been well investigated, the details of the assembly and stabilization of nonionic coacervates remain largely unknown. Here, we describe a library of coacervate-forming polyesteramides and show that the water-tertiary amide bridging hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions stabilize these nonionic, single-component coacervates. Analogous to intracellular biological coacervates, these coacervates exhibit "liquid-like" features with low viscosity and low interfacial energy, and form coacervates with as few as five repeating units. By controlling the temperature and engineering the molar ratio between hydrophobic interaction sites and bridging hydrogen bonding sites, we demonstrate the tuneability of the viscosity and interfacial tension of polyesteramide-based coacervates. Taking advantage of the differences in the mesoscopic properties of these nonionic coacervates, we engineered multiphasic coacervates with core-shell architectures similar to those of intracellular biological coacervates, such as nucleoli and stress granule-p-body complexes. The multiphasic structures produced from these synthetic nonionic polyesteramide coacervates may serve as a valuable tool for investigating physicochemical principles deployed by living cells to spatiotemporally control cargo partitioning, biochemical reaction rates, and interorganellar signal transport.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinhao Liu
- School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Abdol Hadi Mokarizadeh
- School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Amal Narayanan
- School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Prathamesh Mane
- School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Avanti Pandit
- School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Yen-Ming Tseng
- School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Mesfin Tsige
- School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Abraham Joy
- School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
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4
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Jedlinska ZM, Riggleman RA. The effect of monomer polarizability on the stability and salt partitioning in model coacervates. SOFT MATTER 2023; 19:7000-7010. [PMID: 37668019 DOI: 10.1039/d3sm00706e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/06/2023]
Abstract
Coacervation of charged polymer chains has been a topic of major interest in both polymer and biological sciences, as it is a subset of a phenomenon called liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). In this process the polymer-rich phase separates from the polymer-lean supernatant while still maintaining its liquid-like properties. LLPS has been shown to play a crucial role in cellular homeostasis by driving the formation of membraneless organelles. It also has the potential to be harnessed to aid in novel therapeutical applications. Recent studies have demonstrated that there is no one simple mechanism which drives LLPS, which is instead a result of the combined effect of electrostatic, dipolar, hydrophobic, and other weak interactions. Using coarse-grained polymer simulations we investigate the relatively unexplored effects of monomer polarizability and spatially varying dielectric constant on LLPS propensity, and these factors affect the properties of the resulting condensates. In order to produce spatial variations in the dielectric constant, all our simulations include explicit solvent and counterions. We demonstrate that polarizability has only a minor effect on the bulk behaviour of the condensates but plays a major role when ion partitioning and microstructure are considered. We observe that the major contribution comes from the nature of the neutral blocks as endowing them with an induced dipole changes their character from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. We hypothesize that the results of this work can aid in guiding future studies concerned with LLPS by providing a general framework and by highlighting important factors which influence LLPS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zuzanna M Jedlinska
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Robert A Riggleman
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
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5
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Nguyen M, Shen K, Sherck N, Köhler S, Gupta R, Delaney KT, Shell MS, Fredrickson GH. A molecularly informed field-theoretic study of the complexation of polycation PDADMA with mixed micelles of sodium dodecyl sulfate and ethoxylated surfactants. THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL. E, SOFT MATTER 2023; 46:75. [PMID: 37665423 DOI: 10.1140/epje/s10189-023-00332-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/11/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
The self-assembly and phase separation of mixtures of polyelectrolytes and surfactants are important to a range of applications, from formulating personal care products to drug encapsulation. In contrast to systems of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, in polyelectrolyte-surfactant systems the surfactants micellize into structures that are highly responsive to solution conditions. In this work, we examine how the morphology of micelles and degree of polyelectrolyte adsorption dynamically change upon varying the mixing ratio of charged and neutral surfactants. Specifically, we consider a solution of the cationic polyelectrolyte polydiallyldimethylammonium, anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate, neutral ethoxylated surfactants (C[Formula: see text]EO[Formula: see text]), sodium chloride salt, and water. To capture the chemical specificity of these species, we leverage recent developments in constructing molecularly informed field theories via coarse-graining from all-atom simulations. Our results show how changing the surfactant mixing ratios and the identity of the nonionic surfactant modulates micelle size and surface charge, and as a result dictates the degree of polyelectrolyte adsorption. These results are in semi-quantitative agreement with experimental observations on the same system.
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Affiliation(s)
- My Nguyen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Kevin Shen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | | | | | - Rohini Gupta
- California Research Alliance (CARA) by BASF, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Kris T Delaney
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - M Scott Shell
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
| | - Glenn H Fredrickson
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
- Department of Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
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6
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Stevens K, Marras AE, Campagna TR, Ting JM, Tirrell MV. Effect of Charged Block Length Mismatch on Double Diblock Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelle Cores. Macromolecules 2023; 56:5557-5566. [PMID: 37521249 PMCID: PMC10373519 DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.3c00555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Revised: 06/23/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023]
Abstract
Polyelectrolyte complex micelles are hydrophilic nanoparticles that self-assemble in aqueous environments due to associative microphase separation between oppositely charged blocky polyelectrolytes. In this work, we employ a suite of physical characterization tools to examine the effect of charged block length mismatch on the equilibrium structure of double diblock polyelectrolyte complex micelles (D-PCMs) by mixing a diverse library of peptide and synthetic charged-neutral block polyelectrolytes with a wide range of charged block lengths (25-200 units) and chemistries. Early work on D-PCMs suggested that this class of micelles can only be formed from blocky polyelectrolytes with identical charged block lengths, a phenomenon referred to as chain length recognition. Here, we use salt annealing to create PCMs at equilibrium, which shows that chain length recognition, a longstanding hurdle to repeatable self-assembly from mismatched polyelectrolytes, can be overcome. Interestingly, D-PCM structure-property relationships display a range of values that vary systematically with the charged block lengths and chemical identity of constituent polyelectrolyte pairings and cannot be described by generalizable scaling laws. We discuss the interdependent growth behavior of the radius, ionic pair aggregation number, and density in the micelle core for three chemically distinct diblock pairings and suggest a potential physical mechanism that leads to this unique behavior. By comparing the results of these D-PCMs to the scaling laws recently developed for single diblock polyelectrolyte complex micelles (S-PCMs: diblock + homopolymer), we observe that D-PCM design schemes reduce the size and aggregation number and restrict their growth to a function of charged block length relative to S-PCMs. Understanding these favorable attributes enables more predictive use of a wider array of charged molecular building blocks to anticipate and control macroscopic properties of micelles spanning countless storage and delivery applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaden
C. Stevens
- Pritzker
School of Molecular Engineering, The University
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Alexander E. Marras
- Walker
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
- Texas
Materials Institute, The University of Texas
at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Trinity R. Campagna
- Pritzker
School of Molecular Engineering, The University
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | | | - Matthew V. Tirrell
- Pritzker
School of Molecular Engineering, The University
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
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7
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Wang K, Liu J, Liu P, Wang D, Han T, Tang BZ. Multifunctional Fluorescent Main-Chain Charged Polyelectrolytes Synthesized by Cascade C-H Activation/Annulation Polymerizations. J Am Chem Soc 2023; 145:4208-4220. [PMID: 36763076 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c12654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
Abstract
Fluorescent polyelectrolytes have attracted enormous attention as functional polymer materials. In contrast with the widely studied conjugated polyelectrolytes with ionic groups in side chains, fluorescent main-chain charged polyelectrolytes (MCCPs) have rarely been explored due to the large synthetic difficulty. Herein, we develop a facile and atom-economical N-heterocyclic carbene-directed cascade C-H activation/annulation polymerization strategy that can transform readily available imidazolium substrates and internal diynes into multifunctional fluorescent MCCPs with complex structures and high molecular weights (absolute Mn up to 135 600) in nearly quantitative yields. The presence of multisubstituted polycyclic N-heteroaromatic cations in polymer backbones endow the obtained MCCPs with excellent solution processability, high thermal stability, and dual-state efficient fluorescence in both solution and aggregate states. Benefiting from the strong electron-withdrawing capability of the cationic heterocycles in main chains, multicolored aggregate-state fluorescence can be readily achieved by modifying the substituents around the cationic ring-fused core. Taking advantage of the good photosensitivity of the fluorescent MCCP thin films, multiscale and high-resolution fluorescent photopatterns with different colors can be facilely prepared with potential applications in optical display devices and anticounterfeiting systems. Moreover, the strong electrostatic interactions of these cationic MCCPs with anionic polyelectrolytes enable them to form multicolored fluorescent interfacial polyelectrolyte complexation microfibers with directly visualized internal structures. Such flexible microfibers can be further made into diversified forms of fiber-based macroscopic patterns or painting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kang Wang
- Center for AIE Research, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
- College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Junkai Liu
- Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | - Peiying Liu
- Center for AIE Research, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Dong Wang
- Center for AIE Research, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Ting Han
- Center for AIE Research, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Ben Zhong Tang
- Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
- School of Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Institute of Aggregate Science and Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518172, China
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8
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Verjans J, Sedlačík T, Jerca VV, Bernhard Y, Van Guyse JFR, Hoogenboom R. Poly( N-allyl acrylamide) as a Reactive Platform toward Functional Hydrogels. ACS Macro Lett 2023; 12:79-85. [PMID: 36595222 DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.2c00650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
The synthesis of poly(N-allyl acrylamide) (PNAllAm) as a platform for the preparation of functional hydrogels is described. The PNAllAm was synthesized via organocatalyzed amidation of poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA) with allylamine and characterized by 1H NMR spectroscopy, size exclusion chromatography (SEC), and turbidimetry, which allowed an estimation of the lower critical solution temperature of ∼26 °C in water. The PNAllAm was then used to make functional hydrogels via photoinitiated thiol-ene chemistry, where dithiothreitol (DTT) was used to cross-link the polymer chains. In addition, mercaptoethanol (ME) was added as a functional thiol to modulate the hydrogel properties. A decrease of the volume-phase transition temperature of the resulting hydrogels was observed with increasing ME content. Altogether this work introduces a straightforward way for the preparation of PNAllAm from PMA and demonstrates its value as a reactive polymer platform for the generation of functional hydrogels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jente Verjans
- Supramolecular Chemistry Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry (CMaC), Department of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Tomáš Sedlačík
- Supramolecular Chemistry Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry (CMaC), Department of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Valentin Victor Jerca
- Smart Organic Materials Group, "Costin D. Nenitzescu" Institute of Organic and Supramolecular Chemistry, Romanian Academy, Spl. Independentei 202B, 060023 Bucharest, Romania
| | - Yann Bernhard
- Supramolecular Chemistry Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry (CMaC), Department of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Joachim F R Van Guyse
- Supramolecular Chemistry Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry (CMaC), Department of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Richard Hoogenboom
- Supramolecular Chemistry Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry (CMaC), Department of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
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9
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Beckinghausen M, Spakowitz AJ. Interplay of Polymer Structure, Solvent Ordering, and Charge Fluctuations in Polyelectrolyte Solution Thermodynamics. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c01826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Michael Beckinghausen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California94305, United States
| | - Andrew J. Spakowitz
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California94305, United States
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California94305, United States
- Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California94305, United States
- Biophysics Program, Stanford University, Stanford, California94305, United States
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10
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Nguyen M, Sherck N, Shen K, Edwards CER, Yoo B, Köhler S, Speros JC, Helgeson ME, Delaney KT, Shell MS, Fredrickson GH. Predicting Polyelectrolyte Coacervation from a Molecularly Informed Field-Theoretic Model. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c01759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- My Nguyen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
| | - Nicholas Sherck
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
| | - Kevin Shen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
| | - Chelsea E. R. Edwards
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
| | - Brian Yoo
- BASF Corporation, Tarrytown, New York 10591, United States
| | | | - Joshua C. Speros
- California Research Alliance (CARA) by BASF, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Matthew E. Helgeson
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
| | - Kris T. Delaney
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
| | - M. Scott Shell
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
| | - Glenn H. Fredrickson
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
- Department of Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
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11
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Guo Q, Zou G, Qian X, Chen S, Gao H, Yu J. Hydrogen-bonds mediate liquid-liquid phase separation of mussel derived adhesive peptides. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5771. [PMID: 36182948 PMCID: PMC9526746 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33545-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Marine mussels achieve strong underwater adhesion by depositing mussel foot proteins (Mfps) that form coacervates during the protein secretion. However, the molecular mechanisms that govern the phase separation behaviors of the Mfps are still not fully understood. Here, we report that GK-16*, a peptide derived from the primary adhesive protein Mfp-5, forms coacervate in seawater conditions. Molecular dynamics simulations combined with point mutation experiments demonstrate that Dopa- and Gly- mediated hydrogen-bonding interactions are essential in the coacervation process. The properties of GK-16* coacervates could be controlled by tuning the strength of the electrostatic and Dopa-mediated hydrogen bond interactions via controlling the pH and salt concentration of the solution. The GK-16* coacervate undergoes a pH induced liquid-to-gel transition, which can be utilized for the underwater delivery and curing of the adhesives. Our study provides useful molecular design principles for the development of mussel-inspired peptidyl coacervate adhesives with tunable properties. The phase separation in the coacervates of adhesive muscle foot proteins is not fully understood. Here, the authors use simulations and point mutations of a mussel foot derived protein to show that hydrogen bonding is essential in the formation of coacervates in sea water which can help develop underwater adhesives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Guo
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 637553, Singapore
| | - Guijin Zou
- Institute of High Performance Computing, A*STAR, Singapore, 138632, Singapore
| | - Xuliang Qian
- School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore
| | - Shujun Chen
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 637553, Singapore
| | - Huajian Gao
- Institute of High Performance Computing, A*STAR, Singapore, 138632, Singapore. .,School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
| | - Jing Yu
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 637553, Singapore. .,Institute for Digital Molecular Analytics and Science, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 637553, Singapore.
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12
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An Overview of Coacervates: The Special Disperse State of Amphiphilic and Polymeric Materials in Solution. COLLOIDS AND INTERFACES 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/colloids6030045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Individual amphiphiles, polymers, and colloidal dispersions influenced by temperature, pH, and environmental conditions or interactions between their oppositely charged pairs in solvent medium often produce solvent-rich and solvent-poor phases in the system. The solvent-poor denser phase found either on the top or the bottom of the system is called coacervate. Coacervates have immense applications in various technological fields. This review comprises a concise introduction, focusing on the types of coacervates, and the influence of different factors in their formation, structures, and stability. In addition, their physicochemical properties, thermodynamics of formation, and uses and multifarious applications are also concisely presented and discussed.
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13
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Yang M, Sonawane SL, Digby ZA, Park JG, Schlenoff JB. Influence of “Hydrophobicity” on the Composition and Dynamics of Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervates. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mo Yang
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States
| | - Swapnil L. Sonawane
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States
| | - Zachary A. Digby
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States
| | - Jin G. Park
- High Performance Materials Institute, The Florida State University, Tallahassee Florida 32310, United States
| | - Joseph B. Schlenoff
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States
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14
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Rumyantsev AM, Johner A, Tirrell MV, de Pablo JJ. Unifying Weak and Strong Charge Correlations within the Random Phase Approximation: Polyampholytes of Various Sequences. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Artem M. Rumyantsev
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Albert Johner
- Institut Charles Sadron, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UPR22, Strasbourg 67034, France
| | - Matthew V. Tirrell
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Juan J. de Pablo
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
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15
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Aquino Queirós MV, Loh W. How to Predict the Order of Phase Separation of Polyelectrolyte Complexes and Their Miscibility. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:5362-5373. [PMID: 35819870 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c03454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The mixture of two oppositely charged polyelectrolyte solutions results in complexation that may lead to an associative phase separation, forming a highly concentrated phase in both polyelectrolytes in equilibrium with a dilute phase. In this work, we aim to investigate what controls the order of complexation when more polyelectrolytes of the same charge are present. For this, the effect of the addition of a third oppositely charged polyelectrolyte in a mixture of two polyelectrolytes with the same charge was studied. Our results show that, under certain conditions, the electrostatic complexation takes place selectively, where one polyanion (or polycation) phase separates first, followed by the other phase separation, with both complexes at their 1:1 charge stoichiometry. Infrared analyses of the phase-separated complexes confirmed that, in a mixture of polyanions, poly(styrenesulfonate) is complexed first, followed by poly(acrylate). For polycations, these analyses showed that poly(diallyldimethylammonium) is preferentially complexed over poly(allylamine). These results suggest that electrostatic complexation occurs following the sequence predicted as in an acid/base titration, where the acidic/basic strength of the involved polyions dictates which one is complexed first. In this respect, the order of complexation can be associated with the equivalence pH for each pair, which we propose can be used as a parameter to predict phase separation in polyelectrolyte mixtures. In addition, we have investigated the miscibility of these complex mixtures, confirming that multiphasic complexes are formed whenever the polyions display ionizable groups with different acid/basic strengths and that this can also be related to their equivalence pH.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Watson Loh
- Institute of Chemistry, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), P.O. Box 6154, 13083-970 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
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16
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Debais G, Tagliazucchi M. Two Sides of the Same Coin: A Unified Theoretical Treatment of Polyelectrolyte Complexation in Solution and Layer-by-Layer Films. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel Debais
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Química Inorgánica Analítica y Química Física, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1053ABH Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Instituto de Química de los Materiales, Ambiente y Energía (INQUIMAE)CONICET- Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1053ABH Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Mario Tagliazucchi
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Química Inorgánica Analítica y Química Física, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1053ABH Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Instituto de Química de los Materiales, Ambiente y Energía (INQUIMAE)CONICET- Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1053ABH Buenos Aires, Argentina
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17
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Kim S, Kim JM, Wood K, Choi SH. Ionic group-dependent structure of complex coacervate hydrogels formed by ABA triblock copolymers. SOFT MATTER 2022; 18:4146-4155. [PMID: 35583260 DOI: 10.1039/d2sm00255h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
This study investigates the nanostructure of complex coacervate core hydrogels (C3Gs) with varying compositions of cationic charged groups (i.e., ammonium and guanidinium) using small-angle X-ray/neutron scattering (SAX/NS). C3Gs were prepared by stoichiometric mixing of two oppositely charged ABA triblock copolymers in aqueous solvents, in which A end-blocks were functionalized with either sulfonate groups or a mixture of ammonium and guanidinium groups. Comprehensive small-angle X-ray/neutron scattering (SAX/NS) analysis elucidated the dependence of C3Gs structures on the fraction of guanidinium groups in the cationic end-block (x) and salt concentration (cs). As x increases, the polymer volume fraction in the cores, and interfacial tension (γcore) and salt resistance (c*) of the coacervate cores increase, which is attributed to the greater hydrophobicity and non-electrostatic association. Furthermore, we observed that the salt dependence of the interfacial tension follows γcore ∼ (1 - cs/c*)3/2 in all series of x. The results show that the variation of the ionic group provides a powerful method to control the salt-responsiveness of C3Gs as stimuli-responsive materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seyoung Kim
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea.
| | - Jung-Min Kim
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea.
| | - Kathleen Wood
- Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights, NSW 2234, Australia
| | - Soo-Hyung Choi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea.
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18
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Chen S, Zhang P, Wang ZG. Complexation between Oppositely Charged Polyelectrolytes in Dilute Solution: Effects of Charge Asymmetry. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Shensheng Chen
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, California 91125, United States
| | - Pengfei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, College of Materials and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Zhen-Gang Wang
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, California 91125, United States
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19
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Zhang P, Wang ZG. Supernatant Phase in Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervation: Cluster Formation, Binodal, and Nucleation. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Pengfei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, College of Material Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Zhen-Gang Wang
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, United States
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20
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Madinya JJ, Sing CE. Hybrid Field Theory and Particle Simulation Model of Polyelectrolyte–Surfactant Coacervation. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jason J. Madinya
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, 600 S. Matthews Ave., Urbana, Illinois 61820, United States
| | - Charles E. Sing
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, 600 S. Matthews Ave., Urbana, Illinois 61820, United States
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21
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Ghasemi M, Larson RG. Future Directions in Physiochemical Modeling of the Thermodynamics of Polyelectrolyte Coacervates (
PECs
). AIChE J 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/aic.17646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mohsen Ghasemi
- Department of Chemical Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan USA
| | - Ronald G. Larson
- Department of Chemical Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan USA
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22
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Bobbili SV, Milner ST. Closed-Loop Phase Behavior of Nonstoichiometric Coacervates in Coarse-Grained Simulations. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c02115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Sai Vineeth Bobbili
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States
| | - Scott T. Milner
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States
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23
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Ylitalo AS, Balzer C, Zhang P, Wang ZG. Electrostatic Correlations and Temperature-Dependent Dielectric Constant Can Model LCST in Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervation. Macromolecules 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c02000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew S. Ylitalo
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, United States
| | - Christopher Balzer
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, United States
| | - Pengfei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, College of Material Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Zhen-Gang Wang
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, United States
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24
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Ma Y, Ali S, Prabhu VM. Enhanced Concentration Fluctuations in Model Polyelectrolyte Coacervate Mixtures along a Salt Isopleth Phase Diagram. Macromolecules 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c02001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yuanchi Ma
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
| | - Samim Ali
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
| | - Vivek M. Prabhu
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
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25
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Affiliation(s)
- Pengfei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, College of Material Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
| | - Zhen-Gang Wang
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, United States
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26
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Bobbili SV, Milner ST. A simple simulation model for complex coacervates. SOFT MATTER 2021; 17:9181-9188. [PMID: 34585705 DOI: 10.1039/d1sm00881a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
When oppositely charged polyelectrolytes mix in an aqueous solution, associative phase separation gives rise to coacervates. Experiments reveal the phase diagram for such coacervates, and determine the impact of charge density, chain length and added salt. Simulations often use hybrid MC-MD methods to produce such phase diagrams, in support of experimental observations. We propose an idealized model and a simple simulation technique to investigate coacervate phase behavior. We model coacervate systems by charged bead-spring chains and counterions with short-range repulsions, of size equal to the Bjerrum length. We determine phase behavior by equilibrating a slab of concentrated coacervate with respect to swelling into a dilute phase of counterions. At salt concentrations below the critical point, the counterion concentration in the coacervate and dilute phases are nearly the same. At high salt concentrations, we find a one-phase region. Along the phase boundary, the total concentration of beads in the coacervate phase is nearly constant, corresponding to a "Bjerrum liquid''. This result can be extended to experimental phase diagrams by assigning appropriate volumes to monomers and salts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sai Vineeth Bobbili
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
| | - Scott T Milner
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
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27
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Lin K, Jing B, Zhu Y. pH-Dependent complexation and polyelectrolyte chain conformation of polyzwitterion-polycation coacervates in salted water. SOFT MATTER 2021; 17:8937-8949. [PMID: 34549769 DOI: 10.1039/d1sm00880c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The phase behavior and chain conformational structure of biphasic polyzwitterion-polyelectrolyte coacervates in salted aqueous solution are investigated with a model weak cationic polyelectrolyte, poly(2-vinylpyridine) (P2VP), whose charge fraction can be effectively tuned by pH. It is observed that increasing the pH leads to the increase of the yielding volume fraction and the water content of dense coacervates formed between net neutral polybetaine and cationic P2VP in contrast to the decrease of critical salt concentration for the onset of coacervation, where the P2VP charge fraction is reduced correspondingly. Surprisingly, a single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopic study suggests that P2VP chains upon coacervation seem to adopt a swollen or an even more expanded conformational structure at higher pH. As the hydrophobicity of P2VP chains is accompanied by a reduced charge fraction by increasing the pH, a strong pH-dependent phase and conformational behaviors suggest the shift of entropic and enthalpic contribution to the underlying thermodynamic energy landscape and chain structural dynamics of polyelectrolyte coacervation involving weak polyelectrolytes in aqueous solution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kehua Lin
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
| | - Benxin Jing
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
| | - Yingxi Zhu
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
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28
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Tian WD, Ghasemi M, Larson RG. Extracting free energies of counterion binding to polyelectrolytes by molecular dynamics simulations. J Chem Phys 2021; 155:114902. [PMID: 34551524 DOI: 10.1063/5.0056853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We use all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to extract ΔGeff, the free energy of binding of potassium ions K+ to the partially charged polyelectrolyte poly(acrylic acid), or PAA, in dilute regimes. Upon increasing the charge fraction of PAA, the chains adopt more extended conformations, and simultaneously, potassium ions bind more strongly (i.e., with more negative ΔGeff) to the highly charged chains to relieve electrostatic repulsions between charged monomers along the chains. We compare the simulation results with the predictions of a model that describes potassium binding to PAA chains as a reversible reaction whose binding free energy (ΔGeff) is adjusted from its intrinsic value (ΔG) by electrostatic correlations, captured by a random phase approximation. The bare or intrinsic binding free energy ΔG, which is an input in the model, depends on the binding species and is obtained from the radial distribution function of K+ around the charged monomer of a singly charged, short PAA chain in dilute solutions. We find that the model yields semi-quantitative predictions for ΔGeff and the degree of potassium binding to PAA chains, α, as a function of PAA charge fraction without using fitting parameters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen-de Tian
- Center for Soft Condensed Matter Physics and Interdisciplinary Research, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China
| | - Mohsen Ghasemi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
| | - Ronald G Larson
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
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29
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Friedowitz S, Qin J. Reversible ion binding for polyelectrolytes with adaptive conformations. AIChE J 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/aic.17426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sean Friedowitz
- Department of Chemical Engineering Stanford University Stanford California USA
| | - Jian Qin
- Department of Chemical Engineering Stanford University Stanford California USA
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30
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Lee M, Perry SL, Hayward RC. Complex Coacervation of Polymerized Ionic Liquids in Non-aqueous Solvents. ACS POLYMERS AU 2021; 1:100-106. [PMID: 36855425 PMCID: PMC9954202 DOI: 10.1021/acspolymersau.1c00017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Oppositely charged polymerized ionic liquids (PILs) were used to form complex coacervates in two different organic solvents, 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) and hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP), and the corresponding phase diagrams were constructed using UV-vis, NMR, and turbidity experiments. While previous studies on complex coacervates have focused almost exclusively on aqueous environments, the use of PILs in the current work enabled studies in solvents with substantially lower dielectric constants (27.0 for TFE, 16.7 for HFIP). The critical salt concentration required to induce complete miscibility was roughly 2-fold larger in HFIP compared with TFE, and two different PIL complexes, solidlike precipitates and liquidlike coacervates, were found in both systems. This study provides insight into the effects of low-dielectric-constant solvents on complex coacervation, which has not been widely studied because of the limited solubility of conventional polyelectrolytes in these media.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minjung Lee
- Department
of Polymer Science and Engineering, University
of Massachusetts, Amherst, 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-9263, United States
| | - Sarah L. Perry
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst, 686 North Pleasant
Street, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-9303, United States
| | - Ryan C. Hayward
- Department
of Polymer Science and Engineering, University
of Massachusetts, Amherst, 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-9263, United States,Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, 596
UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States,
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31
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Chen X, Chen EQ, Shi AC, Yang S. Multiphase Coacervates Driven by Electrostatic Correlations. ACS Macro Lett 2021; 10:1041-1047. [PMID: 35549117 DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.1c00282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The liquid-liquid phase separation of a polyelectrolyte solution containing one type of negatively and two types of positively charged polymers with different charge densities is studied theoretically by random phase approximation (RPA). It is predicted that multicoacervate phases could coexist, driven purely by electrostatic correlations. The asymmetry of the linear charge density could induce an effective immiscibility between two positively charged polyelectrolytes, leading to the multiphase separation. Adding salt will induce the disappearance of the dilute phase, forming two coexisting complex phases, instead of fusion between coacervates. Raising temperature could either induce a two coexisting complex phase, or a dilute phase coexisting with a coacervate phase, depending on the bulk concentration. Our predictions are in good agreement with experiments and provide insights in the further designing of the multiphase coacervation system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xu Chen
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Mater Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Er-Qiang Chen
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Mater Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - An-Chang Shi
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1, Canada
| | - Shuang Yang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Mater Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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32
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Huang J, Laaser JE. Charge Density and Hydrophobicity-Dominated Regimes in the Phase Behavior of Complex Coacervates. ACS Macro Lett 2021; 10:1029-1034. [PMID: 35549116 DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.1c00382] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The role of hydrophobicity, and particularly of nonionic hydrophobic comonomers, in the phase behavior of polyelectrolyte complex coacervates is not well-understood. Here, we address this problem by synthesizing a library of polymers with a wide range of charge densities and nonionic hydrophobic side chain lengths, and characterizing their phase behavior by optical turbidity. The polymers were prepared by postpolymerization modification of poly(N-acryloxy succinimide), targeting charge densities between 40 and 100% and nonionic aliphatic side chains with lengths from 0 to 12 carbons long. Turbidity measurements on pairs of polycations and polyanions with matched charge densities and nonionic side chain lengths revealed a complex salt response with distinct charge density-dominated and hydrophobicity-dominated regimes. The polymer solubilities were not directly correlated with the phase behavior of the coacervates, indicating the difficulty of understanding the coacervate phase behavior in terms of the polymer-water interaction parameter. This result suggests that there is significant room for further work to understand the mechanisms by which specific molecular-scale interactions moderate the phase behavior of complex coacervates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Huang
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
| | - Jennifer E. Laaser
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
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33
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Fekih-Ahmed K, Khemissi H, Aschi A. Structural transition induced by physicochemical parameters during complexation and coacervation of Poly-L-Ornithine with poly-(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate). INT J POLYM MATER PO 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/00914037.2021.1960339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Khouloud Fekih-Ahmed
- Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, LR99ES16 Laboratoire Physique de la Matière Molle et de la Modélisation Électromagnétique, Université de Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Hela Khemissi
- Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, LR99ES16 Laboratoire Physique de la Matière Molle et de la Modélisation Électromagnétique, Université de Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Adel Aschi
- Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, LR99ES16 Laboratoire Physique de la Matière Molle et de la Modélisation Électromagnétique, Université de Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
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34
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Knoerdel AR, Blocher McTigue WC, Sing CE. Transfer Matrix Model of pH Effects in Polymeric Complex Coacervation. J Phys Chem B 2021; 125:8965-8980. [PMID: 34328340 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c03065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Oppositely charged polyelectrolytes can undergo an associative phase separation, in a process known as polymeric complex coacervation. This phenomenon is driven by the electrostatic attraction between polyanion and polycation species, leading to the formation of a polymer-dense coacervate phase and a coexisting polymer-dilute supernatant phase. There has been significant recent interest in the physical origin and features of coacervation; yet notably, experiments often use weak polyelectrolytes the charge state of which depends on solution pH, while theoretical or computational efforts typically assume strong polyelectrolytes that remain fully charged. There have been only a few efforts to address this limitation, and thus there has been little exploration of how pH can affect complex coacervation. In this paper, we modify a transfer matrix theory of coacervation to account for acid-base equilibria, taking advantage of its ability to directly account for some local ion correlations that will affect monomer charging. We show that coacervation can stabilize the charged state of a weak polyelectrolyte via the proximity of oppositely charged monomers, and can lead to asymmetric phase diagrams where the positively and negatively charged polyelectrolytes exhibit different behaviors near the pKa of either chain. Specifically, there is a partitioning of one of the salt species to a coacervate to maintain electroneutrality when one of the polyelectrolytes is only partially charged. This results in the depletion of the same salt species in the supernatant, and overall can suppress phase separation. We also demonstrate that, when one of the species is only partially charged, mixtures that are off-stoichiometric in volume fraction but stoichiometric in charge exhibit the greatest propensity to form coacervate phases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley R Knoerdel
- Program in Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Whitney C Blocher McTigue
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Charles E Sing
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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35
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Neitzel A, Fang YN, Yu B, Rumyantsev AM, de Pablo JJ, Tirrell MV. Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervation across a Broad Range of Charge Densities. Macromolecules 2021; 54:6878-6890. [PMID: 34334816 PMCID: PMC8320234 DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c00703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 05/19/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Polyelectrolyte complex coacervates of homologous (co)polyelectrolytes with a near-ideally random distribution of a charged and neutral ethylene oxide comonomer were synthesized. The unique platform provided by these building blocks enabled an investigation of the phase behavior across charge fractions 0.10 ≤ f ≤ 1.0. Experimental phase diagrams for f = 0.30-1.0 were obtained from thermogravimetric analysis of complex and supernatant phases and contrasted with molecular dynamics simulations and theoretical scaling laws. At intermediate to high f, a dependence of polymer weight fraction in the salt-free coacervate phase (w P,c) of w P,c ∼ f 0.37±0.01 was extracted; this trend was in good agreement with accompanying simulation predictions. Below f = 0.50, w P,c was found to decrease more dramatically, qualitatively in line with theory and simulations predicting an exponent of 2/3 at f ≤ 0.25. Preferential salt partitioning to either coacervate or supernatant was found to be dictated by the chemistry of the constituent (co)polyelectrolytes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angelika
E. Neitzel
- Pritzker
School of Molecular Engineering, University
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Argonne
National Laboratory, Materials Science Division, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Yan N. Fang
- Pritzker
School of Molecular Engineering, University
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Boyuan Yu
- Pritzker
School of Molecular Engineering, University
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Artem M. Rumyantsev
- Pritzker
School of Molecular Engineering, University
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Juan J. de Pablo
- Pritzker
School of Molecular Engineering, University
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Argonne
National Laboratory, Materials Science Division, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Matthew V. Tirrell
- Pritzker
School of Molecular Engineering, University
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Argonne
National Laboratory, Materials Science Division, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
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36
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Kim S, Lee M, Lee WB, Choi SH. Ionic-Group Dependence of Polyelectrolyte Coacervate Phase Behavior. Macromolecules 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c00216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sojeong Kim
- School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
| | - Minhwan Lee
- School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
| | - Won Bo Lee
- School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
| | - Soo-Hyung Choi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea
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37
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Friedowitz S, Lou J, Barker KP, Will K, Xia Y, Qin J. Looping-in complexation and ion partitioning in nonstoichiometric polyelectrolyte mixtures. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabg8654. [PMID: 34330707 PMCID: PMC8324053 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg8654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
A wide variety of intracellular membraneless compartments are formed via liquid-liquid phase separation of charged proteins and nucleic acids. Understanding the stability of these compartments, while accounting for the compositional heterogeneity intrinsic to cellular environments, poses a daunting challenge. We combined experimental and theoretical efforts to study the effects of nonstoichiometric mixing on coacervation behavior and accurately measured the concentrations of polyelectrolytes and small ions in the coacervate and supernatant phases. For synthetic polyacrylamides and polypeptides/DNA, with unequal mixing stoichiometry, we report a general "looping-in" phenomenon found around physiological salt concentrations, where the polymer concentrations in the coacervate initially increase with salt addition before subsequently decreasing. This looping-in behavior is captured by a molecular model that considers reversible ion binding and electrostatic interactions. Further analysis in the low-salt regime shows that the looping-in phenomenon originates from the translational entropy of counterions that are needed to neutralize nonstoichiometric coacervates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean Friedowitz
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Junzhe Lou
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | | | - Karis Will
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Yan Xia
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
| | - Jian Qin
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
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38
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Prabhu VM. Interfacial tension in polyelectrolyte systems exhibiting associative liquid–liquid phase separation. Curr Opin Colloid Interface Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cocis.2021.101422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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39
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Jiang J, Chen EQ, Yang S. The effect of ion pairs on coacervate-driven self-assembly of block polyelectrolytes. J Chem Phys 2021; 154:144903. [PMID: 33858167 DOI: 10.1063/5.0044845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The incorporation of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes into a block copolymer system can lead to formation of microphase separated nanostructures driven by the electrostatic complex between two oppositely charged blocks. It is a theoretical challenge to build an appropriate model to handle such coacervate-driven self-assembly, which should capture the strong electrostatic correlations for highly charged polymers. In this paper, we develop the self-consistent field theory considering the ion paring effect to predict the phase behavior of block polyelectrolytes. In our model, two types of ion pairs, the binding between two oppositely charged monomers and the binding between charged monomers and counterions, are included. Their strength of formation is controlled by two parameters Kaa and Kac, respectively. We give a detailed analysis about how the binding strength Kac and Kaa and salt concentration affect the self-assembled nanostructure of diblock polyelectrolyte systems. The results show that the binding between two oppositely charged blocks provides driven force for microphase separation, while the binding between charged monomers and counterions competes with the polyion pairing and thus suppresses the microphase separation. The addition of salt has a shielding effect on the charges of polymers, which is a disadvantage to microphase separation. The phase diagrams as a function of polymer concentration and salt concentration at different situations are constructed, and the influence of Kaa, Kac, and charged block composition fa is analyzed in depth. The obtained phase diagrams are in good agreement with currently existing experimental and theoretical results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiadi Jiang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering and Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China
| | - Er-Qiang Chen
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering and Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China
| | - Shuang Yang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering and Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China
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40
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Aponte-Rivera C, Rubinstein M. Dynamic Coupling in Unentangled Liquid Coacervates Formed by Oppositely Charged Polyelectrolytes. Macromolecules 2021; 54:1783-1800. [PMID: 33981120 PMCID: PMC8109663 DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c01393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
We develop a scaling theory that predicts the dynamics of symmetric and asymmetric unentangled liquid coacervates formed by solutions of oppositely-charged polyelectrolytes. Symmetric coacervates made from oppositely-charged polyelectrolytes consist of polycations and polyanions with equal and opposite charge densities along their backbones. These symmetric coacervates can be described as mixtures of polyelectrolytes in the quasi-neutral regime with a single correlation length. Asymmetric coacervates are made from polycations and polyanions with unequal charge densities. The difference in charge densities results in a double semidilute structure of asymmetric coacervates with two correlation lengths, one for the high-charge-density and the other for the low-charge-density polyelectrolytes. We predict that the double-semidilute structure in asymmetric coacervates results in a dynamic coupling which increases the friction of the high-charge-density polyelectrolyte. This dynamic coupling increases the contribution to the zero-shear viscosity of the high-charge-density polyelectrolyte. The diffusion coefficient of the high-charge-density polyelectrolyte is predicted to depend on the concentration and degree of polymerization of the low-charge-density polyelectrolyte in the coacervate if the size of the low-charge-density polymer is smaller than the correlation length of the high-charge-density polymer. We also predict a non-monotonic salt concentration dependence of the zero-shear viscosity of asymmetric coacervates.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michael Rubinstein
- Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University
- Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Physics and Chemistry Department, Duke University
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41
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Li L, Rumyantsev AM, Srivastava S, Meng S, de Pablo JJ, Tirrell MV. Effect of Solvent Quality on the Phase Behavior of Polyelectrolyte Complexes. Macromolecules 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c01000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Lu Li
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Artem M. Rumyantsev
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Samanvaya Srivastava
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, United States
| | - Siqi Meng
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Juan J. de Pablo
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Center for Molecular Engineering and Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Matthew V. Tirrell
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Center for Molecular Engineering and Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
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42
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Abstract
A scaling model for the structure of coacervates is presented for mixtures of oppositely-charged polyelectrolytes of both symmetric and asymmetric charge-densities for different degrees of electrostatic strength and levels of added salt. At low electrostatic strengths, weak coacervates, with the energy of electrostatic interactions between charges less than the thermal energy, k B T, are liquid. At higher electrostatic strengths, strong coacervates are gels with crosslinks formed by ion pairs of opposite charges bound to each other with energy higher than k B T. Charge-symmetric coacervates are formed for mixtures of oppositely-charged polyelectrolytes with equal and opposite charge-densities. While charge-symmetric weak coacervates form a semidilute polymer solution with a correlation length equal to the electrostatic blob size, charge-symmetric strong coacervates form reversible gels with a correlation length on the order of the distance between bound ion pairs. Charge-asymmetric coacervates are formed from mixtures of oppositely-charged polyelectrolytes with different charge-densities. While charge-asymmetric weak coacervates form double solutions with two correlation lengths and qualitatively different chain conformations of polycations and polyanions, charge-asymmetric strong coacervates form bottlebrush and star-like gels. Unlike liquid coacervates, for which an increase in the concentration of added salt screens electrostatic interactions, causing structural rearrangement and eventually leads to their dissolution, the salt does not affect the structure of strong coacervates until ion pairs dissociate and the gel disperses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott P O Danielsen
- Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, United States
| | - Sergey Panyukov
- P. N. Lebedev Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117924, Russia
| | - Michael Rubinstein
- Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, United States
- Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, United States
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43
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Manoj Lalwani S, Eneh CI, Lutkenhaus JL. Emerging trends in the dynamics of polyelectrolyte complexes. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2020; 22:24157-24177. [PMID: 33094301 DOI: 10.1039/d0cp03696j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) are highly tunable materials that result from the phase separation that occurs upon mixing oppositely charged polymers. Over the years, they have gained interest due to their broad range of applications such as drug delivery systems, protective coatings, food packaging, and surface adhesives. In this review, we summarize the structure, phase transitions, chain dynamics, and rheological and thermal properties of PECs. Although most literature focuses upon the thermodynamics and application of PECs, this review highlights the fundamental role of salt and water on mechanical and thermal properties impacting the PEC's dynamics. A special focus is placed upon experimental results and techniques. Specifically, the review examines phase behaviour and salt partitioning in PECs, as well as different techniques used to measure diffusion coefficients, relaxation times, various superpositioning principles, glass transitions, and water microenvironments in PECs. This review concludes with future areas of opportunity in fundamental studies and best practices in reporting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suvesh Manoj Lalwani
- Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77840, USA.
| | - Chikaodinaka I Eneh
- Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77840, USA.
| | - Jodie L Lutkenhaus
- Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77840, USA. and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77840, USA
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44
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Raoufi N, Kadkhodaee R, Fang Y, Phillips GO. pH-Induced structural transitions in whey protein isolate and ultrasonically solubilized Persian gum mixture. ULTRASONICS SONOCHEMISTRY 2020; 68:105190. [PMID: 32485628 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2020.105190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2020] [Revised: 05/08/2020] [Accepted: 05/25/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The present work evidently reports that ultrasonic depolymerization strongly enhanced complex coacervation between Persian gum (PG) and whey protein isolate (WPI). PG was sonicated at 60 °C, operating frequency of 20 kHz and nominal power output of 800 W for various times followed by mixing with WPI. Acid-induced interaction between the two biopolymers was studied by turbidity, light scattering, zeta potential and viscosity measurements over a wide pH range. Sonication of intact PG (IPG) for 10 min considerably reduced the molecular weight from 4.12 × 106 to 0.76 × 106 g/mol. Besides, ultrasonic fragmentation of water insoluble fraction of PG drove protein containing chains into the soluble phase. Sonicated PG (SPG) was shown to be more flexible with higher number of carboxyl groups available for electrostatic interaction with WPI, such that the complete neutralization did not occur even at protein to polysaccharide ratio of 50: 1. Additionally, scattered light intensity and viscosity measurements revealed two maxima in the pH ranges of 4.4-4.85 and 3.27-4.0, being highly intense for the gum sonicated for 10 min and longer. Considering the pH-behavior of WPI components, the former peak was related to interpolymer complex formation between β-lactoglobulin and long chain fraction of SPG, while the latter was attributed to intrapolymer association of α-lactalbumin with the short chain oligosaccharides arising from ultrasonic degradation of PG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nassim Raoufi
- School of Food Science and Bioengineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, PR China; Department of Food Nanotechnology, Research Institute of Food Science and Technology (RIFST), Mashhad, Iran.
| | - Rassoul Kadkhodaee
- Department of Food Nanotechnology, Research Institute of Food Science and Technology (RIFST), Mashhad, Iran.
| | - Yapeng Fang
- Glyn O. Phillips Hydrocolloid Research Centre, School of Bioengineering and Food Science, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, PR China; Department of Food Science and Engineering, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
| | - Glyn O Phillips
- Phillips Hydrocolloid Research Ltd, 2 Plymouth Drive, CF15 8BL Radyr, Cardiff, UK.
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45
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Liu Z, Zhou W, Qi C, Kong T. Interface Engineering in Multiphase Systems toward Synthetic Cells and Organelles: From Soft Matter Fundamentals to Biomedical Applications. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2020; 32:e2002932. [PMID: 32954548 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202002932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2020] [Revised: 07/19/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Synthetic cells have a major role in gaining insight into the complex biological processes of living cells; they also give rise to a range of emerging applications from gene delivery to enzymatic nanoreactors. Living cells rely on compartmentalization to orchestrate reaction networks for specialized and coordinated functions. Principally, the compartmentalization has been an essential engineering theme in constructing cell-mimicking systems. Here, efforts to engineer liquid-liquid interfaces of multiphase systems into membrane-bounded and membraneless compartments, which include lipid vesicles, polymer vesicles, colloidosomes, hybrids, and coacervate droplets, are summarized. Examples are provided of how these compartments are designed to imitate biological behaviors or machinery, including molecule trafficking, growth, fusion, energy conversion, intercellular communication, and adaptivity. Subsequently, the state-of-art applications of these cell-inspired synthetic compartments are discussed. Apart from being simplified and cell models for bridging the gap between nonliving matter and cellular life, synthetic compartments also are utilized as intracellular delivery vehicles for nuclei acids and nanoreactors for biochemical synthesis. Finally, key challenges and future directions for achieving the full potential of synthetic cells are highlighted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhou Liu
- College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518000, China
| | - Wen Zhou
- College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518000, China
| | - Cheng Qi
- College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518000, China
| | - Tiantian Kong
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518000, China
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46
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Blocher McTigue WC, Voke E, Chang LW, Perry SL. The benefit of poor mixing: kinetics of coacervation. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2020; 22:20643-20657. [PMID: 32895678 DOI: 10.1039/d0cp03224g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Complex coacervation has become a prominent area of research in the fields of food science, personal care, drug stabilization, and more. However, little has been reported on the kinetics of assembly of coacervation itself. Here, we describe a simple, low-cost way of looking at the kinetics of coacervation by creating poorly mixed samples. In particular, we examine how polymer chain length, the patterning and symmetry of charges on the oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, and the presence of salt and a zwitterionic buffer affect the kinetics of complex coacervation. Our results suggest an interesting relationship between the time for equilibration and the order of addition of polymers with asymmetric patterns of charge. Furthermore, we demonstrated that increasing polymer chain length resulted in a non-monotonic trend in the sample equilibration times as a result of opposing factors such as excluded volume and diffusion. We also observed differences in the rate of sample equilibration based on the presence of a neutral, zwitterionic buffer, as well as the presence and identity of added salt, consistent with previous reports of salt-specific effects on the rheology of complex coacervates. While not a replacement for more advanced characterization strategies, this turbidity-based method could serve as a screening tool to identify interesting and unique phenomena for further study.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Elizabeth Voke
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA.
| | - Li-Wei Chang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA.
| | - Sarah L Perry
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA.
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47
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Liu Y, Santa Chalarca CF, Carmean RN, Olson RA, Madinya J, Sumerlin BS, Sing CE, Emrick T, Perry SL. Effect of Polymer Chemistry on the Linear Viscoelasticity of Complex Coacervates. Macromolecules 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c00758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yalin Liu
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States
| | - Cristiam F. Santa Chalarca
- Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States
| | - R. Nicholas Carmean
- George & Josephine Butler Polymer Research Laboratory, Center for Macromolecular Science & Engineering, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, United States
| | - Rebecca A. Olson
- George & Josephine Butler Polymer Research Laboratory, Center for Macromolecular Science & Engineering, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, United States
| | - Jason Madinya
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Brent S. Sumerlin
- George & Josephine Butler Polymer Research Laboratory, Center for Macromolecular Science & Engineering, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, United States
| | - Charles E. Sing
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Todd Emrick
- Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States
| | - Sarah L. Perry
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States
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48
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Li L, Srivastava S, Meng S, Ting JM, Tirrell MV. Effects of Non-Electrostatic Intermolecular Interactions on the Phase Behavior of pH-Sensitive Polyelectrolyte Complexes. Macromolecules 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c00999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lu Li
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Samanvaya Srivastava
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, United States
| | - Siqi Meng
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Jeffrey M. Ting
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Matthew V. Tirrell
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Center for Molecular Engineering and Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
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49
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Meng S, Ting JM, Wu H, Tirrell MV. Solid-to-Liquid Phase Transition in Polyelectrolyte Complexes. Macromolecules 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c00930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Siqi Meng
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Jeffrey M. Ting
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Center for Molecular Engineering and Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Hao Wu
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Matthew V. Tirrell
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Center for Molecular Engineering and Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
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50
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Ghasemi M, Friedowitz S, Larson RG. Analysis of Partitioning of Salt through Doping of Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervates. Macromolecules 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c00797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mohsen Ghasemi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Sean Friedowitz
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Ronald G. Larson
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
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