title: Flexible magnetic filaments as micromechanical sensors.
abstract: We propose a new micromechanical approach to probe bending rigidity at molecular scale. Long flexible filaments made of magnetic colloids and linkers are shown to adopt under magnetic field a hairpin configuration. Measuring the hairpin curvature as a function of the field intensity and the linker length from diffracted light allows us to deduce the linker bending rigidity kappa. The technique is presented for two types of linkers: a spontaneously adsorbing polymer and a grafted biomolecular.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Colloïdes et Matériaux Divisés, UMR 7612, ESPCI, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Goubault
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jop
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fermigier
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baudry
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bibette
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D000941:Antigens / Q000737:chemistry*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000379:methods*; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000737:chemistry*; D008280:Magnetics; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D011487:Protein Conformation; D014841:von Willebrand Factor / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D000941:Antigens; D003102:Colloids; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; C029417:Von Willebrand antigen; D014841:von Willebrand Factor; C006903:carbopol 940