Electrostatic interactions between polyelectrolytes within an ultracentrifuge

The authors characterize electrostatic and other polymer-polymer interactions within an ultracentrifuge cell using a new electrochemical transport model. Applying conservation of mass and momentum of solutes and solvent, and Maxwell's equations valid in the electroquasistatic limit, together with initial and boundary conditions on solute (and electrolyte) distribution, the authors predict the transient (nonequilibrium) and equilibrium solute (and electrolyte) distributions, net charge density, electric field, and electrostatic potential profiles. This model represents a significant advance ever the Lamm equation (and its extensions) (H. Fujita, 1962), which describe polymer-polymer interactions phenomenologically (using empirical virial coefficients) (L.W. Nichol et al., 1967).<>