title: Monte carlo study of coulombic criticality in polyelectrolytes.
abstract: The role of charges in determining the water solubility of polyelectrolytes, a question of considerable relevance to biology, is currently unresolved. We use computer simulations to study the purely Coulombic phase separation of flexible polyelectrolytes with monovalent counterions in an athermal solvent. In agreement with recent theories we find that the critical temperature for this transition increases with chain length, but that the critical density remains unchanged. We therefore stress that the phase behavior of polyelectrolytes is qualitatively different from uncharged polymers, where the critical density decreases towards zero for long chains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Orkoulas
authors.forename: Sanat K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Athanassios Z
authors.initials: AZ
authors.lastname: Panagiotopoulos
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D004573:Electrolytes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D012995:Solubility; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes; D014867:Water