Complex Formation between Polyelectrolytes and Oppositely Charged Oligoelectrolytes

We study the complex formation between one long polyanion chain and many short oligocation chains by computer simulations. We employ a coarse-grained bead-spring model for the polyelectrolyte chains, and model explicitly the small salt ions. We systematically vary the concentration and the length of the oligocation, and examine how the oligocations affects the chain conformation, the static structure factor, the radial and axial distribution of various charged species, and the number of bound ions in the complex. At low oligocation concentration, the polyanion has an extended structure. Upon increasing the oligocation concentration, the polyanion chain collapses and forms a compact globule, but the complex still carries a net negative charge. Once the total charge of the oligocations is equal to that of the polyanion, the collapse stops and is replaced by a slow expansion. In this regime, the net charge on the complexes is positive or neutral, depending on the microion concentration in solution. The expansion can be explained by the reduction of the oligocation bridging. We find that the behavior and the structure of the complex are largely independent of the length of oligocations, and very similar to that observed when replacing the oligocations by multivalent salt cations, and conclude that the main driving force keeping the complex together is the release of monovalent counterions and coions. We speculate on the implications of this finding for the problem of controlled oligolyte release and oligolyte substitution.