Systematic investigation of synthetic polyelectrolyte bottlebrush solutions by neutron and dynamic light scattering, osmometry, and molecular dynamics simulation

Ferenc Horkay; Alexandros Chremos; Jack F Douglas; Ronald L Jones; Junzhe Lou; Yan Xia

doi:10.1063/5.0007271

Systematic investigation of synthetic polyelectrolyte bottlebrush solutions by neutron and dynamic light scattering, osmometry, and molecular dynamics simulation

J Chem Phys. 2020 May 21;152(19):194904. doi: 10.1063/5.0007271.

Authors

Ferenc Horkay¹, Alexandros Chremos¹, Jack F Douglas², Ronald L Jones², Junzhe Lou³, Yan Xia³

Affiliations

¹ Section on Quantitative Imaging and Tissue Sciences, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
² Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.
³ Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

Abstract

There is a great interest in the synthesis and characterization of polyelectrolytes that mimic naturally occurring bottlebrush polyelectrolytes to capitalize on the unique properties of this class of macromolecules. Charged bottlebrush polymers form the protective mucus layer in the lungs, stomach, and orifices of animals and provide osmotic stabilization and lubrication to joints. In the present work, we systematically investigate bottlebrush poly(sodium acrylates) through a combination of measurements of solution properties (osmometry, small-angle neutron scattering, and dynamic light scattering) and molecular dynamics simulations, where the bottlebrush properties are compared in each case to their linear polymer counterparts. These complementary experimental and computational methods probe vastly different length- and timescales, allowing for a comprehensive characterization of the supermolecular structure and dynamics of synthetic polyelectrolyte bottlebrush molecules in solution.