Polymer distribution in connected spherical domains.
The distribution of neutral and charged polymers with different flexibilities between two spheres of varying volume connected by a short and narrow cylinder has been investigated by Monte Carlo simulations. The uncharged chain displayed mostly a single-sphere occupancy due to the high conformational entropy penalty of crossing the cylindrical domain, whereas for the charged polymer a double-sphere occupancy was obtained, except for very different spherical volumes. The origin of this different occupancy behavior stems from the counterion entropy. At increasing stiffness, a stronger preference for double-sphere occupancy was predicted.
Departamento de Química, Universidade de Coimbra, P-3004-535 Coimbra, Portugal. andreia@ci.uc.pt
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