Analysis of stability of macromolecular clusters in dilute heteropolymer solutions

Abstract

We study the formation of clusters consisting of several chains in dilute solutions of amphiphilic heteropolymers. By means of the Gaussian variational theory we show that in a region of the phase diagram within the conventional two-phase coexistence region mesoglobules of equal size possess the lowest free energy. Monte Carlo simulation confirms that the mesoglobules are stabilised due to micro-phase separation, which introduces a preferred length scale. The very existence of such mesoscopic structures is related to a delicate balance of the energetic and entropic terms under the connectivity constraints. The issue of size monodispersity and fluctuations for mesoglobules is investigated.

30 pages, RevTeX, 14 ps figures. Accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phys

References in corpus (2)

• Conformational transitions of heteropolymers in dilute solutions
• Collapse transitions of a periodic hydrophilic hydrophobic chain

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Polyelectrolyte-surfactant complex: phases of self-assembled structures
• Monte Carlo simulations of infinitely dilute solutions of amphiphilic diblock star copolymers
• Aggregation number distributions and mesoglobules in dilute solutions of diblock and triblock copolymers
• Improved Gaussian self-consistent method - Applications to homopolymers with different architectures in dilute solution