Interpolyelectrolyte complexes of diblock copolymers via interaction of complementary polyelectrolyte–surfactant complexes in chloroform

Abstract We have studied the interpolyelectrolyte complexation in chloroform between polystyrene- block -poly(cetyltrimethylammonium acrylate), (PA − CTA + ), and poly(2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyldimethylethyl-ammonium dodecyl sulfate) (quaternized poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) complexed with sodium dodecyl sulfate), (PDMAEMAQ + DS − ). Turbidimetry, dynamic/static light scattering, and transmission electron microscopy show the formation of large aggregated interpolyelectrolyte complex species, which are colloidally stable in chloroform or even chloroform-soluble if the certain conditions are met. We suggest such co-assemblies to be micellar species with a core assembled from electrostatically coupled fragments of the polymeric components. The corona is built up either from a mixture of polystyrene blocks and excessive fragments of (PDMAEMAQ + DS − ) chains or from a mixture of polystyrene blocks and excessive fragments of (PA − CTA + ) blocks, depending on which polymeric component was taken in excess for the interpolyelectrolyte complexation. However, their real structures may deviate from such idealized consideration because of the non-equilibrium character of interpolyelectrolyte complexation in organic media of low polarity.