Reply to the ‘Comment on “Effects of topological constraints on linked ring polymers in solvents of varying quality”’ by M. Tsige and H. Guo, Soft Matter, 2024, 20, DOI: 10.1039/D3SM01614E

Author(s)
Zahra Ahmadian Dehaghani, Iurii Chubak, Christos N. Likos, Mohammad Reza Ejtehadi
Abstract

In the preceding Comment, Drs Tsige and Guo compare their findings about the θ-temperatures of linear chains, ring polymers and poly[n]catenanes with those of previous work by us [Z. A. Dehaghani, I. Chubak, C. N. Likos and M. R. Ejtehadi, Soft Matter, 2020, 16, 3029-3038] and point out that the ordering they obtain for these three quantities is, for large degrees of polymerisation, the reverse of the one we had found in our own investigations. We thank the authors of the Comment for their remarks and we appreciate their detailed investigations, which emphasise the importance of understanding the properties of topological polymers and their behaviour under varying solvent quality. We point out, however, that the discrepancy found by Tsige and Guo is only apparent because it pertains to the Θ-temperature of rings and poly[n]catenanes with the same overall molecular weight, whereas in our work we compared the Θ-temperature of a constituent ring of the poly[n]catenane with that of the entire mechanically linked macromulecule.

Organisation(s)
Computational and Soft Matter Physics
External organisation(s)
Sharif University of Technology Tehran, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)
Journal
Soft Matter
Volume
20
Pages
4651-4652
No. of pages
2
ISSN
1744-683X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm00293h
Publication date
05-2024
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103023 Polymer physics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
General Chemistry, Condensed Matter Physics
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/1ca93d9b-335c-43fa-a692-6a3c8a08cb12