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Published on: October 25, 2017
Polymers in crowded environment under stretching force: Globule-coil transitions
Viktoria Blavatska1, Wolfhard Janke
1Institut für Theoretische Physik and Centre for Theoretical Sciences (NTZ), Universität Leipzig, Postfach 100 920, D-04009 Leipzig, Germany. blavatska@itp.uni-leipzig.de
Summary
Researchers explored flexible polymer behavior in porous environments, revealing how stretching force influences polymer folding and globule-coil transitions. This study provides insights into polymer configurations under varying conditions.
Area of Science:
- Polymer Physics
- Statistical Mechanics
- Soft Matter Physics
Background:
- Flexible polymer macromolecules exhibit complex conformational changes in different environments.
- Understanding polymer behavior in crowded or porous media is crucial for various applications.
- Globule-coil transitions are fundamental phenomena in polymer science.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of stretching force on polymer folding in a crowded environment.
- To analyze the properties of globule-coil transitions under varying temperature and force.
- To construct phase diagrams for polymer configurations.
Main Methods:
- Modeling polymers as self-attracting self-avoiding walks on site-diluted percolative lattices.
- Utilizing the pruned-enriched Rosenbluth chain-growth method.
- Estimating the globule-coil transition temperature (TTheta).
Main Results:
- The study estimates the transition temperature (TTheta) between collapsed and extended polymer states.
- Phase diagrams illustrating globule-coil coexistence are constructed based on temperature and stretching force.
- The transition to a fully stretched state under applied force is characterized.
Conclusions:
- Stretching force significantly impacts polymer folding and globule-coil transitions in porous environments.
- The findings contribute to understanding polymer phase behavior under external forces.
- This research provides a framework for predicting polymer conformations in complex systems.
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