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Thermoreversible gelation strongly coupled to polymer conformational transition
Author(s) -
Tanaka Fumihiko
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.200450312
Subject(s) - helix (gastropod) , branching (polymer chemistry) , random coil , pairing , polymer , crystallography , alpha helix , chemical physics , phase transition , triple helix , electromagnetic coil , materials science , chemistry , stereochemistry , physics , condensed matter physics , circular dichroism , ecology , superconductivity , snail , composite material , biology , quantum mechanics
Thermoreversible gelation of polymers driven by the coil‐to‐helix transition in chain conformation is theoretically studied. For pairwise association of single helices, there are three fundamental types of self‐assemblies as a result of competition between helix growth and helix association: Type I network (random coils connected by paired short helices), Type II network (helices connected by short random coils) and pairing (pairs of long helices without branching). Two distinct phase diagrams showing sol/gel transition and coil/helix transition are derived for weak and strong association.