Electric potential of single chain of cyclic polyelecctrolytes

Key Points

• The aim is to investigate the electric potential and counterion distribution of cyclic polyelectrolytes compared to linear versions.
• Synthesis of cyclic polystyrene sulfonate via self-accelerating click chemistry
• Measurement of single molecule electric potential using fluorescence microscopy
• Comparison of counterion distribution between cyclic and linear polystyrene sulfonate
• Cyclic polyelectrolyte shows higher local counterion concentration compared to linear polyelectrolyte chain ends
• Counterion distribution in cyclic structure is uniform and does not change with spatial position
• Single-chain diffusion coefficient of cyclic polyelectrolyte is higher than that of linear counterpart