Interactions between actin, an anionic polyelectrolyte, and lysozyme, a cationic globular protein, have been examined using a combination of synchrotron small-angle x-ray scattering and molecular dynamics simulations. Lysozyme initially bridges pairs of actin filaments, which relax into hexagonally coordinated columnar complexes comprised of actin held together by incommensurate one-dimensional...

An amphiphilic disulfide-containing polyamidoamine was synthesized by Michael-type polyaddition reaction of piperazine to equimolar N, N'-bis(acryloyl)cystamine with 90% yield. The polycationic micelles (198 nm, 32.5 mV), prepared from the amphiphilic polyamidoamine by dialysis method, can condense foreign plasmid DNA to form nanosized polycationic micelles/DNA polyelectrolyte complexes with po...

The paper is focused on the formation of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HAp) in polyelectrolyte-modified microemulsions, in a microemulsion template phase consisting of cyclohexane, water, cationic surfactant and cosurfactant, in the presence of Na-polyacrylate (PAA) as an anionic polyelectrolyte. It is shown that PAA, can be incorporated into the individual inverse microemulsion droplets. The m...

We briefly review results pertaining to the conformations, interactions and phase behavior of two related soft matter systems: star-branched polyelectrolytes and spherical polyelectrolyte brushes. Moreover, we present new results on the complexation of stars with oppositely charged, spherical, hard colloids, demonstrating the versatility of these systems to form novel complexes that result in a...

Air/water interfaces were modified by oppositely charged poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (NaPSS) and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) polyelectrolyte/surfactant mixtures and were studied on a molecular level with vibrational sum-frequency generation (SFG), tensiometry, surface dilatational rheology and ellipsometry. In order to deduce structure property relations, our results on the in...

We examine the complexation behavior of polyelectrolyte stars on oppositely charged colloidal particles with similar sizes by means of computer simulations employing the molecular dynamics approach. In particular the overcharging phenomenon is considered and its dependence on the charge and functionality of the stars. The complexes thus formed are a realization of inverse patchy particles (Bia...