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Semiflexible polymer condensates in poor solvents: Toroid versus spherical geometries

I. C. B. Miller1, M. Keentok2, G. G. Pereira2,3, and D. R. M. Williams1

  • 1Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia
  • 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, Australia
  • 3MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand

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Phys. Rev. E 71, 031802 – Published 14 March, 2005

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.71.031802

Abstract

Semiflexible polymers, such as DNA, in the presence of a condensing agent often form toroids. This is due to a balance between bending and surface area free energy penalties. Here we show why in experiments all the toroids have been found to have similar physical size. We also introduce a novel morphology, that of the hollow sphere, which is favored for long polymer chains. This offers the possibility of encapsulating material inside a “vesicle” made of semiflexible polymers. We also consider the case of many such polymer chains placed in a poor solvent. We show a transition between two morphologies occur on increasing concentration of polymer chains, from a thickened toroid to a spherical globule.

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Phys. Rev. E 71, 031802– Published 14 March, 2005
  • Received 21 July 2004

© 2005 American Physical Society

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