Ternary complexes of poly(ethylene imine), single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides and glutamic acid moieties

► Molecular self-assembly to non-covalent ternary complexes (terplexes). ► The major self-assembly products have a stoichiometry of 1:1:1. ► Longer glutamic acid n-mers decrease the terplex stabilities. ► Solution and intrinsic stabilities of the terplexes follow the same order. ► Terplex stability is sensitive to nucleotide sequence if the Glu n-mer is short.