Dielectric behavior of polyelectrolytes. VI. Dynamic response of cylindrical biopolymers to electric fields.
The time dependence of the orientation of a cylindrical biopolymer and the configuration of its counterion complement in the presence of an external electric field is found by solving a model forced diffusion equation. The solution is a high temperature expansion in the external field strength and is used to predict the nature of the dielectric relaxation and the dynamic Kerr effect for such systems. Specific application is made to the dynamic Kerr effect of a DNA oligomer for which experimental data appear in the literature. The analysis yields a value for the surface diffusion coefficient of a sodium ion on DNA at 20 degrees C of 3.8 x 10(-10) m2 s-1.
Sonnen
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Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706.
Wesenberg
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Vaughan
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D001704:Biopolymers; D004563:Electrochemistry; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008433:Mathematics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D009010:Monte Carlo Method
D001704:Biopolymers; D046911:Macromolecular Substances