Digital Commons Network^™

Isothermal Titration Calorimetry And Transmission Electron Microscopy Of Main-Chain Viologen Polymer Containing Bromide As Counerions, Pradip K. Bhowmik, Marcos A. Cheney, Haesook Han, Longzhou Ma

Transmission Electron Microscope

Polyelectrolytes are an important class of macromolecules that contain dissociable ionic groups. When introduced into polar solvent, usually the universal solvent water, dissociation takes place so that electrically charged macromolecule is suspended in solution. The electrostatic interaction is operative between ionized groups inside the macromolecule, between the macromolecules, between the counterions, and between the macromolecule and counterion. Since this interaction is characterized by its long-range nature, the solution exhibits various interesting properties including the polyelectrolyte behavior very different from solutions of neutral polymers.