ИСТИНА

The interaction of the branched polyelectrolytes species, viz., star-shaped polyions and star-like micelles of ionic/nonionic amphiphilic diblock copolymers, with the oppositely charged linear polyelectrolytes in aqueous media was investigated. It was found that, if the certain conditions are met, this interaction (coassembly) can result in the formation of soluble in aqueous media distinctly compartmentalized nanosized complex species with the polymeric component of branched (star-like) topology playing a lyophilizing part. The formed macromolecular coassemblies are considered to have peculiar “core-corona” (star-shaped polyelectrolytes) or “core-shell-corona” (star-like micelles of ionic/nonionic amphiphilic diblock copolymers) structure. A hydrophobic core (star-shaped polyelectrolytes) or a hydrophobic shell (star-like micelles of ionic/nonionic amphiphilic diblock copolymers) of each of the complex species represents essentially a water-insoluble interpolyelectrolyte complex incorporating the oppositely charged polyelectrolyte components in 1 : 1 ratio while a hydrophilic (ionic) corona granting the whole complex species solubility in aqueous media is composed of free (excessive) polyelectrolyte branches (arms of star-shaped polyelectrolytes or ionic blocks of ionic/nonionic amphiphilic diblock copolymers) that are not coupled with the fragments of the oppositely charged linear polyions. The impact of the branched (star-like) topology of the polymeric component on the salt-induced behavior of the macromolecular coassemblies in aqueous media was examined. In particular, their aqueous solutions were shown to be remarkably stable against the salt-induced phase separation if the star-like polymeric component has the sufficiently large number of the polyelectrolyte branches. Such novel complex macromolecular architectures of micellar type are thought to be highly in-demand by rapidly developing nanotechnologies, e.g., for a design of nanocontainers and nanoreactors.