Giant Hyaluronan Polymer Brushes Display Polyelectrolyte Brush Polymer Physics Behavior

Polyelectrolyte brushes are important stimuli-responsive materials in a variety of technological applications as well as in biological systems. Their small size, however, introduces characterization challenges, particularly in studying 3D structure and time-dependent behavior. In this Letter, we report on the polyelectrolyte brush behavior of extra-large hyaluronan brushes (∼15 μm) recently developed using an enzyme-mediated growth process. In response to increasing ionic strength, the brush displays the osmotic brush regime and the salted brush regime. We also show a collapse of 96% when the brush is placed in a poor solvent. This collapse is rapid when changing from a good to poor solvent, but re-expansion is slow when changing back to a good solvent. The observed brush behavior described in this Letter is similar to that seen for smaller polyelectrolyte brushes, indicating that these larger brushes may serve as model systems to study more complex phenomena through confocal microscopy.