skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: The Effect of Counterion Valence on the pH Responsiveness of Polyelectrolyte Dendrimer Structure: A Small Angle Neutron Scattering Study

Journal Article · · The Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3358349· OSTI ID:984767

By quantitatively analyzing small angle neutron scattering (SANS) results of protonated generation 5 (G5) polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers dissolved in aqueous solution, we have accurately determined their structural characteristics. The investigation has focused on understanding the effect of counterion valency on the counterion association and its effect to the intra-molecular density profile. It is found that the association of extremely large amount of divalent counterions significantly reduces the effective charge of a dendrimer molecule. Similar to the results of G4, we found that there is still an intra-molecular structure transition in G5 when DCl is used to protonate a dendrimer. However, surprisingly, no discernible transition of the density distribution profile is observed for the G5 dendrimer charged by D2SO4. We have attributed the reason to the more effective screening effect of divalent counterions.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
984767
Journal Information:
The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 132, Issue 12; ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (40)

Designing dendrimers for biological applications journal December 2005
Are Polyelectrolyte Dendrimers Stimuli Responsive? journal August 2007
Small-Angle Neutron Scattering from Diffuse Interfaces. 2. Polydisperse Shells in Water-n-Alkane-C10E4 Microemulsions journal August 1995
Structural investigations of poly(amido amine) dendrimers in methanol using molecular dynamics journal January 2006
Structure−Property Relations in Dendritic Polyelectrolyte Solutions at Different Ionic Strength journal January 2002
Dendrimers set to self-destruct journal November 2003
Dynamics of star-burst dendrimers in solution in relation to their structural properties journal August 2002
Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers: from biomimicry to drug delivery and biomedical applications journal April 2001
Self-Organization in Dendrimer Polyelectrolytes journal February 2008
Solvent Quality Changes the Structure of G8 PAMAM Dendrimer, a Disagreement with Some Experimental Interpretations journal December 2006
Configurational characteristics and scaling behavior of starburst molecules: a computational study journal April 1990
Dendrimers in Solution: Insight from Theory and Simulation journal June 2004
Intermolecular Interactions between Dendrimer Molecules in Solution Studied by Small-Angle Neutron Scattering journal March 1998
Structural Investigation of PAMAM Dendrimers in Aqueous Solutions Using Small-Angle Neutron Scattering: Effect of Generation journal November 2008
Intramolecular Structural Change of PAMAM Dendrimers in Aqueous Solutions Revealed by Small-Angle Neutron Scattering journal February 2010
Reduction and analysis of SANS and USANS data using IGOR Pro journal November 2006
Dendrimers in drug research journal January 2004
Size Invariance of Polyelectrolyte Dendrimers journal May 2000
PAMAM Dendrimers Undergo pH Responsive Conformational Changes without Swelling journal March 2009
Small Angle Neutron Scattering Studies of the Counterion Effects on the Molecular Conformation and Structure of Charged G4 PAMAM Dendrimers in Aqueous Solutions journal August 2007
Asymmetric poly(ethylene-alt-propylene)-poly(ethylene oxide) micelles: A system with starlike morphology and interactions journal October 2007
I ONIC E FFECTS B EYOND P OISSON -B OLTZMANN T HEORY journal October 1999
Collapse of Spherical Polyelectrolyte Brushes in the Presence of Multivalent Counterions journal October 2006
Nanoblossoms:  Light-Induced Conformational Changes of Cationic Polyelectrolyte Stars in the Presence of Multivalent Counterions journal January 2007
Molecular Dynamics Simulations of a Charged Dendrimer in Multivalent Salt Solution journal October 2009
Theory of competitive counterion adsorption on flexible polyelectrolytes: Divalent salts journal June 2008
Structural Molecular Dynamics Studies on Polyamidoamine Dendrimers for a Therapeutic Application:  Effects of pH and Generation journal May 2002
Tuning the Density Profile of Dendritic Polyelectrolytes journal August 1998
Electrostatic interactions in colloidal solutions: Comparison between primitive and one‐component models journal July 1986
Nanoscale Solution Structure and Transfer Capacity of Amphiphilic Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimers Having Water and Polar Guest Molecules Inside journal December 2003
Charge-Induced Conformational Changes of Dendrimers journal June 2008
Soft matter with soft particles journal January 2006
Colloidal nature of star polymer dilute and semidilute solutions journal May 1991
Effective Screened Coulomb Charge of Spherical Colloidal Particles journal March 2000
Structure factors effects in small-angle scattering from block copolymer micelles and star polymers journal February 2001
Structure of Charged Dendrimer Solutions As Seen by Small-Angle Neutron Scattering journal September 1999
Effect of Solvent and pH on the Structure of PAMAM Dendrimers journal February 2005
On the dynamics and structure of charge-stabilized suspensions journal July 1996
Determination of the Intrinsic Proton Binding Constants for Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimers via Potentiometric pH Titration journal July 2003
Liquid-like Ordering of Negatively Charged Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) Dendrimers in Solution journal March 2009