Phase Separation and Aggregation in Multiblock Chains

Fuente: arXiv
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Autore principale: Panagiotopoulos, Athanassios Z.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2023
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author Panagiotopoulos, Athanassios Z.
author_facet Panagiotopoulos, Athanassios Z.
contents This article focuses on phase and aggregation behavior for linear chains composed of blocks of hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments. Phase and conformational transitions of patterned chains are relevant for understanding liquid-liquid separation of biomolecular condensates, which play a prominent role in cellular biophysics, but also for surfactant and polymer applications. Previous studies of simple models for multiblock chains have shown that, depending on the sequence pattern and chain length, such systems can fall into one of two categories: displaying either phase separation or aggregation into finite-size clusters. The key new result of the present study is that both formation of finite-size aggregates and phase separation can be observed for certain chain architectures at appropriate conditions of temperature and concentration. For such systems, a bulk dense liquid condenses from a dilute phase that already contains multi-chain finite-size aggregates. The computational approach involves several distinct steps using histogram-reweighting grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations, which are described here in some level of detail.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2302_07169
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Phase Separation and Aggregation in Multiblock Chains
Panagiotopoulos, Athanassios Z.
Soft Condensed Matter
This article focuses on phase and aggregation behavior for linear chains composed of blocks of hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments. Phase and conformational transitions of patterned chains are relevant for understanding liquid-liquid separation of biomolecular condensates, which play a prominent role in cellular biophysics, but also for surfactant and polymer applications. Previous studies of simple models for multiblock chains have shown that, depending on the sequence pattern and chain length, such systems can fall into one of two categories: displaying either phase separation or aggregation into finite-size clusters. The key new result of the present study is that both formation of finite-size aggregates and phase separation can be observed for certain chain architectures at appropriate conditions of temperature and concentration. For such systems, a bulk dense liquid condenses from a dilute phase that already contains multi-chain finite-size aggregates. The computational approach involves several distinct steps using histogram-reweighting grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations, which are described here in some level of detail.
title Phase Separation and Aggregation in Multiblock Chains
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.07169