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Formation of helical states in wormlike polymer chains

Josh P. Kemp·Zheng Yu Chen
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Abstract

We propose a potential for wormlike polymer chains which can be used to model the low-temperature conformational structures. We successfully reproduced helix ground states up to 6.5 helical loops, using the multicanonical Monte Carlo simulation method. We demonstrate that the coil-helix transition involves four distinct phases: coil(gaslike), collapsed globular(liquidlike), and two helical phases I and II (both solidlike). The helix I phase is characterized by a helical structure with dangling loose ends, and the helix II phase corresponds to a near perfect helix ordering in the entire crystallized chain.

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Josh P. Kemp, Zheng Yu Chen. 1998-04-16. Formation of helical states in wormlike polymer chains. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.81.3880

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