Self-assembly of an amphiphilic macromolecule under spherical confinement: an efficient route to generate hollow
A A Glagoleva1, V V Vasilevskaya1, K Yoshikawa2
1A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova St. 28, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
Abstract:
In general, bio-macromolecules are composed of hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties and are confined within small cavities, such as cell membranes and intracellular organelles. Here, we studied the self-organization of macromolecules having groups with different affinities to solvents under spherical nano-scale confinement by means of computer modeling. It is shown that depending on the interaction parameters of monomer units composed of side- and main-chain monomer groups along a single linear macromolecule and on cavity size, such amphiphilic polymers undergo the conformational transitions between hollow nanospheres, rod-like and folded cylindrical structures, and a necklace conformation with and without a particular ordering of beads. The diagram of the conformations in the variables the incompatibility parameter of monomer units and the cavity radius is constructed.
