Electrostatic complexation of spheres and chains under elastic stress

We consider the complexation of highly charged semiflexible polyelectrolyte s with oppositely charged macroions. On the basis of scaling arguments we d iscuss how the resulting complexes depend on the persistence length of the polyelectrolyte, the salt concentration, and the sizes and charges of the c hain and the macroions. We study first the case of complexation with a sing le sphere and calculate the wrapping length of the chain. We then extend ou r consideration to complexes involving many wrapped spheres and study coope rative effects. The mechanical properties of such a complex under an extern al deformation are evaluated.(C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.