Stepwise conformation transitions for a semi-stiff ring polymer confined in a conical trap induced by the increasing external field or by cone's opening angle variation
Abstract
In this paper a stepwise compaction process of a ring semi-stiff polymer chain placed in a 3d conical nano-cavity and being under the action of the increasing external field is studied. Compaction from a circle like shape to several toroidal-like loops for a three-dimensional system was observed. The thermodynamic stability of these toroidal-like structures was investigated by observing a hysteresis of the compaction extension curves. This study extends our previous work [1] with investigation of the effect of the cone opening angle variation on the distinct shape transitions.
Keywords
Supporting agencies: The authors thank John Grime for his visualisation tool, jgrime@uchicago.edu.
About the Authors
A. Siretskiy
Uppsala University
Sweden
Sweden
Dept. of Informational Technology, SE-751 05, Uppsala
C. Elvingson
Uppsala University
Sweden
Sweden
Dept. of Chemistry, Physical Chemistry P.O. Box 523, SE-751 20, Uppsala
P. Vorontsov-Velyaminov
Saint Petersburg University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Dept. of Molecular Biophysical, Physical Faculty, 198504, Saint-Petersburg
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Review
For citations:
Siretskiy A., Elvingson C., Vorontsov-Velyaminov P. Stepwise conformation transitions for a semi-stiff ring polymer confined in a conical trap induced by the increasing external field or by cone's opening angle variation. Nanosystems: Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics. 2013;4(2):225-235.
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