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Ionic interactions between oppositely charged polyelectrolytes and surfactants can - under proper conditions - lead to formation of physical gels. The surfactants form micellar structures enabling to solubilize hydrophobic substances in the otherwise aqueous environment of the gel. Resulting materials can find use in the formulation of delivery systems, e.g. for hydrophobic drugs especially in topical applications. We report on the techniques of preparation of such materials from positively charged polysaccharides (chitosan, cationized dextran) and negatively charged surfactant and on their rheological properties in dependence of their composition.
Keywords: Hydrogels, polyelectrolytes, micelles, nanodomains, surfactants© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.