Polyelectrolyte complexes of sodium dodecyl sulfate and cationic copolymerof vinylpyrrolidone in aqueous solutions

The molecular characteristics of the cationic copolymer of N-vinylpyrrolido ne and N,N,N,N-triethylmethacryloyloxyethylammonium iodide and its polyelec trolyte complexes with sodium dodecyl sulfate at the molar ratios gamma of charged subunits (sodium dodecyl sulfate : cationic comonomer) that corresp ond to the anomalies of the physicochemical and biological properties of th ese complexes were studied by the method of static light scattering. It was demonstrated that at gamma = 0.5, a macromolecule of polyelectrolyte with M-w = 85 x 10(3) binds similar to 110 amphiphilic ions of sodium dodecyl su lfate and the size of a macroion decreases from 60 to 21.5 nm. At gamma = 4 .0, the size of a polymer coil and the extent of its saturation by the amph iphilic ions (similar to 1000 molecules of sodium dodecyl sulfate) achieve maximum values. Based on the data on the microenvironment of these complexe s in water and their competing interactions with an enzyme (trypsin) and ph ospholipid vesicles, it is suggested that, on passing from a complex with g amma = 0.5 to a complex with gamma = 4.0, the intramolecular micelle-like c lusters of sodium dodecyl sulfate undergo polymorphic transformation to the clusters of the quasi-micellar type.