Copolymer-surfactant complexes obtained in a lamellar lyotropic medium.

Polymer–surfactant complexes formed between charged copolymers and oppositely charged surfactants are analyzed as a function of the charge density in the macromolecule. Copolymers of ionizable diallyldimethylammonium chloride (DADMAC) and neutral acrylamide are obtained at different comonomer ratios. When mixed with the lamellar medium formed by the anionic surfactant 1,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT) in water, they give rise to highly condensed lamellar phases in equilibrium with another lyotropic phase. The structure of these phases is studied by SAXS and optical microscopy revealing the formation of copolymer–surfactant complexes which present a lamellar structure. The composition of the phases is inaccessible to direct determination, because they do not separate macroscopically (in most of the samples). Thus, the stoichiometry is determined using a model which considers the charge density of the copolymers. This model allows, from the experimental data provided by SAXS, to calculate the...