Form factor for distorted semi-flexible polymer chains
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Updated: Feb 16, 2026

DNA Nanotubes as a Versatile Tool to Study Semiflexible Polymers
Published on: October 25, 2017
1Visiting Scientist, Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, 40237 Düsseldorf, Germany. res314159@aol.de.
Abstract:
The statistical presence of kinks which form defects in semi-flexible polymer chains leads to a polydispersity in the effective persistence length. The form factor of a distorted semi-flexible polymer results as an average over this persistence polydispersity. It turns out that the scattering behavior of an ensemble of distorted semi-flexible polymer chains is quite well approximated by a form factor of an undistorted chain with a Rg-equivalent persistence length. An apparent length polydispersity is observed for short distorted chains. The Rg-equivalent persistence length is significantly smaller than the innate persistence length multiplied by the fraction of regular monomers. The results are compared to related work on DNA from the literature.
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