Driving Forces for Oppositely Charged Polyion Association in Aqueous Solutions: Enthalpic, Entropic, but Not Electrostatic

Driving forces for association between oppositely charged biological or synthetic polymers in aqueous solution have long been identified as electrostatic in origin. This attraction is broken down into an entropic component, due to loss of counterions, and an enthalpic component, stemming from Coulombic attraction between opposite charges. While the balance between entropic and enthalpic contributions shifts according to the conditions, the presence of exotherms or endotherms on mixing, though small, are viewed as signatures of Coulombic interactions which support theories of polyelectrolyte association rooted in continuum electrostatics. Here, a head-to-head comparison is made between mechanisms based on electrostatics and those based on specific ion pairing, or ion exchange. Using a Hofmeister series of counterions for a common polycation, poly(diallyldimethylammonium), enthalpy changes on association with poly(styrenesulfonate) are shown to derive from changes in water perturbation, revealed by Raman scattering studies of water O-H vibrations. The free energy for complexation is almost completely entropic over all salt concentrations.