Association Structures of Amphiphilic Polyelectrolytes and Their Solution Properties

Amphiphilic polyelectrolytes or hydrophobically modified polyelectrolytes undergo hydrophobically driven self-association in aqueous media toform , in some cases, well-defined spatial structures on a nanometer scale (nanostructures). This depends strongly on their macromolecular architectures. This review is concerned with recent advances in the studies of amphiphilic block and random polyelectrolytes, including fundamental aspects of the self-association of amphiphilic polyelectrolytes. Extensive studies by a large number of research groups haveso far yielded a good deal of progress in the fundamental understanding of underlying structure-property relationships in the self-association of amphiphilic polyelectrolytes in aqueous media. This review particularly focuses on solution properties of some amphiphilic polyelectrolytes that exhibit stimuli-responsiveness , which may find applications in various commercial products.