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od 2020-09-20

Title: Alternating multiblock copolymers exhibiting protein-like transitions in selective solvents: A Monte Carlo study

Source: Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids

Year : 2008

Abstract:

We present a lattice Monte Carlo study of a series of block copolymer chains in selective solvents of varying quality, first using a diblock chain of the length of N = 32 with a 16-16 microarchitecture, and then - two multiblock chains of N = 64 and N = 128, with (8-8)(4) and (16-16)(4) microarchitectures, respectively. We report a variety of thermodynamic and structural properties, such as energy, specific heat, end-to-end distance and radius of gyration both for the whole chain and for individual blocks. The simulations have demonstrated that a multiblock copolymer in a selective solvent exhibits protein-like behavior undergoing a two-step transition, first from a swollen state to a secondary 'pearl-necklace' state and then to a tertiary super-globular state as the solvent quality decreases, i.e. upon cooling. We have found that mean-squared end-to-end distances of multiblock chains decrease as the temperature is reduced, as expected.
(C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2008.06.022   (Pobrane:  2020-10-21)