Effects of topological constraints on linked ring polymers in solvents of varying quality
- Author(s)
- Zahra Ahmadian Dehaghani, Iurii Chubak, Christos N. Likos, Mohammad Reza Ejtehadi
- Abstract
We investigate the effects of topological constraints in catenanes composed of interlinked ring polymers on their size in a good solvent as well as on the location of their θ-point when the solvent quality is worsened. We mainly focus on poly[n]catenanes consisting of n ring polymers each of length m interlocked in a linear fashion. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we study the scaling of the poly[n]catenane's radius of gyration in a good solvent, assuming in general that Rg ∼ mμnν and we find that μ = 0.65 ± 0.02 and ν = 0.60 ± 0.01 for the range of n and m considered. These findings are further rationalized with the help of a mean-field Flory-like theory yielding the values of μ = 16/25 and ν = 3/5, consistent with the numerical results. We show that individual rings within catenanes feature a surplus swelling due to the presence of NL topological links. Furthermore, we consider poly[n]catenanes in solvents of varying quality and we demonstrate that the presence of topological links leads to an increase of its θ-temperature in comparison to isolated linear and ring chains with the following ordering: Tθcatenane > Tθlinear > Tθring. Finally, we show that the presence of links similarly raises the θ-temperature of a single linked ring in comparison to an unlinked one, bringing its θ-temperature close to the one of a poly[n]catenane.
- Organisation(s)
- Computational and Soft Matter Physics
- External organisation(s)
- Sharif University of Technology Tehran, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)
- Journal
- Soft Matter
- Volume
- 16
- Pages
- 3029-3038
- No. of pages
- 10
- ISSN
- 1744-683X
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SM02374G
- Publication date
- 03-2020
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103023 Polymer physics, 103029 Statistical physics
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Condensed Matter Physics, General Chemistry
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/ca2dd474-4fc1-4adf-83eb-96dd574a776e