title: Confinement causes opposite effects on the folding transition of a single polymer chain depending on its stiffness.
abstract: We investigated the folding transition between an elongated coil state and a compact state on a single polymer chain confined in a small space with different stiffness with the aid of Monte Carlo simulation. In a flexible polymer, the folding transition is retarded in a confined space. In contrast, the transition is promoted for a semiflexible chain, in which the discontinuity of the volume change occupied by a single chain is diminished by confinement. This unique confinement effect is interpreted in terms of conformational entropy and self-avoiding repulsive interaction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: Takafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwaki
mesh_terms: D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers