title: A theoretical method to determine unstressed off-rate from multiple bond force spectroscopy.
abstract: Using dynamic force spectroscopy to measure the kinetic off-rates of intermolecular bonds currently requires the isolation of single molecules. This requirement arises in part because no tractable analytic method for determining kinetic off-rates from the rupture of a large number of bonds under dynamic forces is currently available. We introduce a novel method for determining the unstressed off-rate from dynamic force spectroscopy experiments involving a large number of bonds. Using both the Bell and Dembo models we show that the unstressed off-rate calculated using the proposed method is in good agreement with the prescribed unstressed off-rate used in Monte-Carlo simulations of multiple bond dynamic force spectroscopy experiments given initial number of bonds (50-500) and loading rate 10(3)-10(6)pN/s.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA.
authors.forename: V K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Eggleton
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D007700:Kinetics; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method