Lattice model for cold and warm swelling of polymers in water

Abstract

We define a lattice model for the interaction of a polymer with water. We solve the model in a suitable approximation. In the case of a non-polar homopolymer, for reasonable values of the parameters, the polymer is found in a non-compact conformation at low temperature; as the temperature grows, there is a sharp transition towards a compact state, then, at higher temperatures, the polymer swells again. This behaviour closely reminds that of proteins, that are unfolded at both low and high temperatures.

REVTeX, 5 pages, 2 EPS figures

References in corpus (4)

• Statistical mechanics of warm and cold unfolding in proteins
• A hierarchical scheme for cooperativity and folding in proteins
• Swollen-Collapsed Transition in Random Hetero-Polymers
• On the Non-Universality of a Critical Exponent for Self-Avoiding Walks

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Microscopic mechanism for cold denaturation
• A possible mechanism for cold denaturation of proteins at high pressure
• Model for the hydration of non-polar compounds and polymers
• Hydrophobic homopolymer's coil-globule transition and adsorption onto a hydrophobic surface under different conditions
• Effect of hydrogen bonds on protein stability