NMR on polyelectrolytes

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a versatile tool for the investigation of structure and molecular mobility in soft mater. It is a standard technique for structure determination of polymers and polyelectrolytes. In addition NMR provides information on both the polyelectrolyte, the counterions and often valuable information originating from the surrounding medium. High-resolution NMR spectroscopy enables the observation of counterion interaction in particular π interactions as well as the information about spatial proximity of functional groups in polyelectrolyte complexes. Combinations of PFG NMR and electrophoresis NMR permit the direct observation of counterion condensation. Cryoporometry showed different states of water interacting with polyelectrolytes in multilayers. Solid-state NMR has been applied to investigate both packing effects and local molecular dynamics in polyelectrolyte multilayers. The current research in the field is reviewed.