Search results for "Chemical physics"
showing 10 items of 2553 documents
Can one detach a fully adsorbed flexible polymer chain by an ultra-small external force?
2013
Full adsorption of flexible chains onto typical solid substrates occurs at a surface interaction energy of (5–10) kBT. The corresponding detachment force is in the range 10–50 pN. In contrast to “bare” solid substrates common to non-living materials, surfaces coated with brush-like polymer layers are very common in biological soft matter. We employ a simple mean-field approach to describe the effects of weak attraction between a floating long macromolecule and the brush. We show that even for a moderately thick brush a very small effective attraction is enough to produce complete binding of the long chain. The detachment force scales as , where W is the brush thickness. Hence the force coul…
Chemical structure and internal diffusion within polymer chains in the melt
1985
The single chain dynamics of polydimethylsiloxane in the melt is studied by means of quasielastic neutron scattering. For this polymer the wave vector range 0.03 A−1≦q≦0.30 A−1 covers the regime of universal modes as well as local diffusive processes. A model is described which incorporates the specific chemical structure of the macromolecule and allows to interpret our data in the full wave vector regime. The only parameter which enters the model, the monomer diffusion constantDm, is found to be (1.2±0.2)·10−5 cm2s−1.
Polymer translocation through a nanopore induced by adsorption: Monte Carlo simulation of a coarse-grained model
2004
Dynamic Monte Carlo simulation of a bead-spring model of flexible macromolecules threading through a very narrow pore in a very thin rigid membrane are presented, assuming at the cis side of the membrane a purely repulsive monomer-wall interaction, while the trans side is attractive. Two choices of monomer-wall attraction epsilon are considered, one choice is slightly below and the other slightly above the "mushroom to pancake" adsorption threshold epsilon(c) for an infinitely long chain. Studying chain lengths N=32, 64, 128, and 256 and varying the number of monomers N(trans) (time t=0) that have already passed the pore when the simulation started, over a wide range, we find for epsiloneps…
Demixing and polymerization in systems of anisotropic globular particles: A molecular dynamics simulation study
1991
We report a first set of results of Molecular Dynamics simulations of phase separation in a two-dimensional system of identical particles bearing attachment sites at their surface. Morphology of regions of aggregation so obtained appear similar to images of biologically self-assembled structures. Also, they evidence the relevance of the region of thermodynamic instability and of the presence and range of interaction of specific attachment sites. Particles of our system are apt to represent indifferently, though grossly, globular proteins or rigid cells, bearing specific and fixed adhesion sites at their surface. Results illustrate some basic aspects of the origin of the morphology of extend…
Effects of ions on water structure: a low-field1HT1NMR relaxometry approach
2014
Aqueous salt solutions play an important role in nature because of their effects on environmental biogeochemical processes and on structural properties of biomolecules. Upon dissolution, salts split in ions that are solvated. Water in hydration shells is subjected to molecular motions that can be monitored by (1)H T1 NMR relaxometry. This technique allowed the evaluation of the nature of the interactions between water and ions via variable temperature experiments. Examination of relaxometry properties of aqueous solutions at variable salt concentrations allowed acknowledgement of the role played by ions in either structuring or destructuring water aggregates. A mathematical model has been a…
Self-Diffusion of Associating Star-Shaped Polymers
2016
The dynamics of associating bonds in transient polymer networks exerts a paramount influence on their relaxation and time-dependent mechanical properties. In particular, diffusive motion of polymers mediated by the dissociation and association equilibrium of reversible junctions can affect the materials’ structural stability, dynamic mechanical properties, and a broad spectrum of functionality that arises from the constant motion of polymer chains. In this work, forced Rayleigh scattering is used to measure the diffusion of terpyridine end-functionalized four-arm poly(ethylene glycol) polymers transiently interlinked by zinc ions in organic solvent across a wide range of length and time sca…
Watching the photo-oxidation of a single aromatic hydrocarbon molecule
2001
International audience; The photooxidation of single dye molecules (see scheme) can be followed by confocal fluorescence microscopy. The self-sensitized reaction with singlet oxygen leads to a suite of products, which may be differentiated spectrally. Tentative structures for certain photoproducts have been obtained from quantum-chemical calculations.
Lateral versus perpendicular segregation in mixed polymer brushes.
2002
Grafting of incompatible polymers on a substrate prevents macrophase separation and the chains self-assemble laterally. Mixed brushes are exposed to different solvents and the morphology is observed via atomic force and x-ray photoemission microscopy. In a nonselective solvent the different species segregate into parallel cylinders ("ripple structure"). Upon exposure to a selective solvent, we encounter a transition to a "dimple" structure, in which the unfavored component forms clusters. Simultaneously, we observe an enhanced perpendicular segregation. The experimental observations are compared to self-consistent field calculations, where qualitative agreement is found.
Microphase separation in bottlebrush polymers under poor-solvent conditions
2009
Molecular-dynamics simulations are used to study the structure of bottlebrush polymers with rigid backbones, for various grafting densities, side chain lengths, and varying solvent quality. While we confirm different states of the bottlebrush proposed by Sheiko et al. (Eur. Phys. J. E, 13 (2004) 125) we find that the transition between stretched and collapsed brushes occurs in a rather gradual manner. The pearl-necklace structure occurring at intermediate grafting densities and rather low temperatures has a pronounced medium-range order along the backbone.
Anisotropic Effect after Stretching of the Spin-Crossover Compound [Fe(II)(2,6-bis-(benzimidazol-2′-yl)pyridine)2] (C1O4)2 in Polyvinylalcohol Polyme…
1999
Abstract [Fe(II)(2,6-bis-(benzimidazol-2′-yl)-pyridine)2](C1O4)2 diffused into a poly(vinyl)alcohol polymer matrix, exhibits an thermally induced spin-crossover. After stretching the matrix, the compound orients itself in the matrix. Polarised UV/VIS spectra measured parallel and perpendicular to the stretching direction allowed to calculate the distortion of the molecule in the matrix by means of semi-empirical PPP SCF-CI calculations.