Association of two polyelectrolytes in salt solutions

Abstract

The association of polyelectrolytes (PEs) in solution affects a wealth of structural and dynamic behaviors, and is also fundamentally important for an understanding of protein association and aggregation. Here, we theoretically study the association of two PE chains by addressing the stability and morphology of the non-spherical associates. Our theory predicts that an elongated pearl-necklace (PN) associate can be stable at high salt concentrations due to the screened electrostatic repulsion. This contradicts the implication of scaling theory. In addition, there is no one-to-one correspondence between the morphology of the associate and its constituting unimers, which is demonstrated by the existence of different association modes.