On the conformational structure of a stiff homopolymer

被引:53
作者
Kuznetsov, YA [1 ]
Timoshenko, EG [1 ]
机构
[1] Natl Univ Ireland Univ Coll Dublin, Dept Chem, Theory & Computat Grp, Dublin 4, Ireland
关键词
D O I
10.1063/1.479655
中图分类号
O64 [物理化学(理论化学)、化学物理学];
学科分类号
070304 ; 081704 ;
摘要
In this paper we complete the study of the phase diagram and conformational states of a stiff homopolymer. It is known that folding of a sufficiently stiff chain results in formation of a torus. We find that the phase diagram obtained from the Gaussian variational treatment actually contains not one, but several distinct toroidal states distinguished by the winding number. Such states are separated by first order transition curves terminating in critical points at low values of the stiffness. These findings are further supported by the off-lattice Monte Carlo simulation. Moreover, the simulation shows that the kinetics of folding of a stiff chain passes through various metastable states corresponding to hairpin conformations with abrupt U-turns. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(99)51532-8].
引用
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页码:3744 / 3752
页数:9
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