Hydrophilic Macroionic Solutions: What Happens When Soluble Ions Reach the Size of Nanometer Scale?
- 4 November 2009
- journal article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Langmuir
- Vol. 26 (12), 9202-9213
- https://doi.org/10.1021/la902917q
Abstract
Large, hydrophilic inorganic ions (mostly polyoxometalate macroions and cationic metal−organic hybrid nanocages) with high solubility in water and/or other polar solvents demonstrate unique solution behaviors. In dilute solutions, they behave significantly different from small simple ions (as described by the Debye−Hückel theory) because the macroions cannot be treated as point charges or large, insoluble colloidal suspensions (usually described by the DLVO theory) because the macroions form homogeneous, stable “real solutions”. The size disparity between the macroions and their counterions results in complex macroion−counterion interaction and leads to the self-assembly of macroions into single-layered, hollow, spherical “blackberry” structures. The blackberries, with robust and very stable structures mimicking biological membranes, can adjust their size accurately and reversibly in response to the change of solvent content, charge density on the macroions, or in some cases merely solution pH. The blackberry membrane is permeable to small cations. The inorganic macroions with well-defined size, shape, mass, charge density (even accurately tunable within certain range), and no intramolecular interaction can be treated as simple model systems to understand the intermolecular interaction in polyelectrolyte solutions. The blackberry structures show certain similarities to the spherical virus capsids, from the overall structure to the kinetic properties of formation.Keywords
This publication has 77 references indexed in Scilit:
- Equilibrium bundle size of rodlike polyelectrolytes with counterion-induced attractive interactionsPhysical Review E, 2005
- Overcharging in Macroions. Effects of Macroion Geometry/Charge DistributionLangmuir, 2003
- En route from the mystery of molybdenum blue via related manipulatable building blocks to aspects of materials scienceCoordination Chemistry Reviews, 2003
- Generation of multimacroion domains in polyelectrolyte solutions by change of ionic strength or pH (macroion charge)The Journal of Chemical Physics, 2002
- Giant metal-oxide-based spheres and their topology: from pentagonal building blocks to keplerates and unusual spin systemsCoordination Chemistry Reviews, 2001
- Cylindrical Micelles of Wormlike PolyelectrolytesLangmuir, 1999
- Introduction: PolyoxometalatesMulticomponent Molecular Vehicles To Probe Fundamental Issues and Practical ProblemsChemical Reviews, 1998
- Concentration and molecular weight regime diagram of salt-free polyelectrolyte solutions as studied by light scatteringThe Journal of Chemical Physics, 1992
- On the electrostatic interaction in macroionic solutionsThe Journal of Chemical Physics, 1984
- Comments on the “ordinary–extraordinary phase transition” of poly(lysine)Peptide Science, 1984