Effect of Knotting on the Shape of Polymers

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_1A3C409C3553
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Effect of Knotting on the Shape of Polymers
Journal
Macromolecules
Author(s)
Rawdon E. J., Kern J. C., Piatek M., Plunkett P., Stasiak A., Millett K. C.
ISSN
0024-9297
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2008
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
41
Number
21
Pages
8281-8287
Language
english
Abstract
Momentary configurations of long polymers at thermal equilibrium usually deviate from spherical symmetry and can be better described, on average, by a prolate ellipsoid. The asphericity and nature of asphericity (or prolateness) that describe these momentary ellipsoidal shapes of a polymer are determined by specific expressions involving the three principal moments of inertia calculated for configurations of the polymer. Earlier theoretical studies and numerical simulations have established that as the length of the polymer increases, the average shape for the statistical ensemble of random configurations asymptotically approaches a characteristic universal shape that depends on the solvent quality. It has been established, however, that these universal shapes differ for linear, circular, and branched chains. We investigate here the effect of knotting on the shape of cyclic polymers modeled as random isosegmental polygons. We observe that random polygons forming different knot types reach asymptotic shapes that are distinct from the ensemble average shape. For the same chain length, more complex knots are, on average, more spherical than less complex knots.
Keywords
, SELF-AVOIDING WALKS, EQUILATERAL RANDOM POLYGONS, SCALING BEHAVIOR, RANDOM KNOTS, LINEAR-POLYMERS, RING POLYMERS, DIMENSIONS
Web of science
Create date
09/11/2009 14:20
Last modification date
20/08/2019 13:51
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