Water‐Soluble Stoichiometric Polyelectrolyte Complexes Based on Cationic Comb‐Type Copolymers

Summary: The interaction between the cationic comb‐type copolymer poly(acrylamide‐co‐MAPTAC)‐graft‐polyacrylamide, synthesized by free‐radical polymerization, and the anionic homopolymer NaPA has been investigated. Water‐soluble PECs are formed through a charge neutralization process. They adopt a compact structure, and form nanoparticles consisting of a hydrophobic PEC core and a protective hydrophilic PAM corona. By increasing the composition of the graft copolymers in neutral PAM side chains, the aggregation number and the size of the nanoparticles decrease. Moreover, increasing the ionic strength of the solution favours the dissociation of the complexes. A schematic representation of the PEC nanoparticles formed at NNaPA = 0.5. magnified image A schematic representation of the PEC nanoparticles formed at NNaPA = 0.5.