  We consider a statistical mechanical model of a generic flexible
polyelectrolyte, comprised of identically charged monomers with long range
electrostatic interactions, and short-range interactions quantified by a
disorder field along the polymer contour sequence, which is randomly quenched.
The free energy and the monomer density profile of the system for no
electrolyte screening are calculated in the case of a system composed of two
infinite plates with an intervening oppositely charged polyelectrolyte chain.
We show that the effect of the contour sequence disorder mediated by
short-range interactions leads to an enhanced localization of the
polyelectrolyte chain and a first order phase transition at a critical value of
the inter-surface spacing. This phase transition results in an abrupt change of
the pressure from negative to positive values, effectively eliminating
polyelectrolyte mediated bridging attraction.
