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Molecular Entanglement and Electrospinnability of Biopolymers

Molecular Entanglement and Electrospinnability of Biopolymers

Published on: September 3, 2014

Long-Lived Self-Entanglements in Ring Polymers.

Beatrice W Soh¹, Alexander R Klotz¹, Rae M Robertson-Anderson²

¹Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.

Physical Review Letters

|September 7, 2019

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Ring polymers can become entangled through self-threading, which significantly slows down their movement. Strongly entangled circular DNA molecules become trapped in compact states, demonstrating severe topological constraints.

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Area of Science:

Polymer Physics
Supramolecular Chemistry
Biophysics

Background:

The entanglement of ring polymers is a complex phenomenon that is not fully understood.
Circular DNA molecules provide a simplified model system for studying polymer entanglement.
Topological constraints significantly influence polymer dynamics and behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of self-threading in the entanglement of ring polymers.
To experimentally induce and study self-entanglements in circular DNA molecules.
To understand how entanglements affect polymer dynamics and topological constraints.

Main Methods:

Utilized electric fields to induce self-entanglements in circular DNA molecules.
Observed and analyzed the dynamics of entangled ring polymers.
Quantified the kinetic arrest and topological constraints in strongly entangled states.

Main Results:

Demonstrated that self-threading is a mechanism that leads to entanglements in ring polymers.
Showed that these entanglements significantly slow down polymer dynamics.
Observed that highly entangled circular molecules exhibit long-term kinetic arrest in compact states.

Conclusions:

Self-threading in ring polymers leads to significant entanglements and topological constraints.
These topological constraints can result in kinetic arrest, severely limiting polymer motion.
Provides experimental evidence for the profound impact of threading on ring polymer behavior.