Intra- and Interpolyelectrolyte Complexes of Polyampholytes

At present, a large amount of research from experimental and theoretical points of view has been done on interpolyelectrolyte complexes formed by electrostatic attractive forces and/or interpolymer complexes stabilized by hydrogen bonds. By contrast, relatively less attention has been given to polymer–polymer complex formation with synthetic polyampholytes (PA). In this review the complexation of polyampholytes with polyelectrolytes (PE) is considered from theoretical and application points of view. Formation of intra- and interpolyelectrolyte complexes of random, regular, block, dendritic polyampholytes are outlined. A separate subsection is devoted to amphoteric behavior of interpolyelectrolyte complexes. The realization of the so-called “isoelectric effect” for interpolyelectrolyte complexes of water-soluble polyampholytes, amphoteric hydrogels and cryogels with respect to surfactants, dye molecules, polyelectrolytes and proteins is demonstrated.