Cell-sized confinements alter molecular diffusion in concentrated polymer solutions due to length-dependent wetting of polymers

Abstract

Living cells are characterized by the micrometric confinement of various macromolecules at high concentrations. Using droplets containing binary polymer blends as artificial cells, we previously showed that cell-sized confinement causes phase separation of the binary polymer solutions because of the length-dependent wetting of the polymers. Here we demonstrate that the wetting-induced heterogeneity of polymers also emerges in single-component polymer solutions. The resulting heterogeneity leads to a slower transport of small molecules at the center of cell-sized droplets than that in bulk solutions. This heterogeneous distribution is observed when longer polymers with lower wettability are localized at the droplet center. Molecular simulations support this wetting-induced heterogeneous distribution by polymer length. Our results suggest that cell-sized confinement functions as a structural regulator for polydisperse polymer solutions that specifically manipulate the diffusion of molecules, particularly those with sizes close to the correlation length of the polymer chains.