Reentrant Condensation of Polyelectrolytes Induced by Diluted Multivalent Salts: The Role of Electrostatic Gluonic Effects.

ABSTRACT: We explore the reentrant condensation of polyelectrolytes triggered by multivalent salts, whose phase-transition mechanism remains under debate. We propose a theory to study the reentrant condensation, which separates the electrostatic effect into two parts: a short-range electrostatic gluonic effect because of sharing of multivalent ions by ionic monomers and a long-range electrostatic correlation effect from all ions. The theory suggests that the electrostatic gluonic effect governs reentrant condensation, requiring a minimum coupling energy to initiate the phase transition. This explains why diluted salts with selective multivalency trigger a polyelectrolyte phase transition. The theory also uncovers that strong adsorption of multivalent ions onto ionic monomers causes low-salt concentr

SUBMITTER: Yong H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11558675 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature