Rotational diffusion coefficient of rod-like polymer with a slight flexibility in semidilute and concentrated solutions

Abstract

A confined stiff chain model is suggested for the prediction of the rotational diffusion coefficient of a rigid rodlike polymer with a slight flexibility above the region of dilute solution (c≫1/L3). It shows a fairly good agreement with the experimental data of various polymers. Among them, PBLG and PBT with more rigidity are more consistent with the model when the log-jamming effect is considered. The predicted rotational diffusivity shows approximately the inverse seventh-power of length, which is less than 9 of Doi-Edwards tube model, but larger than the experimental value 5.7 of M-virus, while it shows the inverse power of concentration is a little larger than the value 2 of tube model except for the rodlike virus M-13.