“…The polyelectrolyte usually includes amine groups as cationic moieties and -COOH as anionic moieties blocked with other polymers, such as hydrophilic or hydrophobic polymers, which have been further utilized in pH-responsive polymers using protonation and deprotonation mechanisms. The cationic polyelectrolytes with amine groups, including PEG-poly(β-amino esters)poly lactic acid (PLA), PEG-poly(2-(diisopropylamino) ethyl methacrylate), 1,2-distearoylsn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[methoxy(polyethylene glycol)] conjugated poly(βamino esters), PEG-poly(2-(diisopropylamino) ethyl methacrylate-co-dithiomaleimide), PEG-poly(2-(dibutylamino) ethyl methacrylate-co-dithiomaleimide), and poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)-poly(4-vinylpyridine) [104][105][106][107][108], can protonate under acidic conditions showing hydrophilicity, while they can deprotonate under basic conditions, indicating hydrophobicity ( − NR 2 ↔ NR 3 + ). In contrast, anionic polyelectrolytes with -COOH, such as poly(Nisopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid), PCL-SS-poly(methacrylic acid), CTS-poly(methacrylic acid-co-N-isopropylacrylamide), poly(N-(4-methacrylamido)-N-(4,6-dimethylpyrimidin-2-yl)benzene-1-sulfonamide-co-N,N -dimethylacrylamide) [109][110][111][112], can deprotonate and protonate in the opposite manner.…”