Treating the polyelectrolytes as polymers with a draining effect. I. The statistical segment length

The statistical segment length of polyelectrolytes, A, in aqueous salt solutions is derived from the unperturbed dimensions parameter, K_θ, that is obtained from the graphical representations based on the Stockmayer–Fixman–Burchard and Dondos–Benoît equations. In order to obtain A from K_θ we use values of the Flory's parameter, Φ, which are given from an empirical equation established for the polymers presenting a draining effect, such as the wormlike polymers. With these values of Φ, the obtained values of A for different polyelectrolytes in aqueous salt solutions of different ionic strength are found very close to the values obtained from other more complicated methods. This result shows that the polyelectrolytes can be considered as polymers presenting a draining effect. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 4225–4229, 2004