Preface: Special Topic on Chemical Physics of Charged Macromolecules

This special topic highlights recent advances in experiments, theory, and coarse-grained modeling on charged macromolecular systems involving synthetic and biological polymers and membranes. The behaviors of the charged systems are very complex and are qualitatively different from those of uncharged polymers. The results presented in this special topic provide deep insights into the fundamentals of how the coupling between the long-ranged electrostatic and topological correlations of charged macromolecules controls their conformations, assembly, dynamics, and transport. There are many insights into the creation and design of new materials based on ionic interactions.