Abstract
We give an extended review of recent numerical and analytical studies on semiflexible chains near surfaces undertaken at Institut Charles Sadron (sometimes in collaboration) with a focus on static properties. The statistical physics of thin confined layers, strict two-dimensional (2D) layers and adsorption layers (both at equilibrium with the dilute bath and from irreversible chemisorption) are discussed for the well-known worm-like-chain (WLC) model. There is mounting evidence that biofilaments (except stable d-DNA) are not fully described by the WLC model. A number of augmented models, like the (super) helical WLC model, the polymorphic model of microtubules (MT) and a model with (strongly) nonlinear flexural elasticity are presented, and some aspects of their surface behavior are analyzed. In many cases, we use approaches different from those in our previous work, give additional results and try to adopt a more general point of view with the hope to shed some light on this complex field.
Highlights
Polymers are large molecules comprising one or a few repeating chemical motives called monomers
The statistical physics of a single WLC is a classical topic of textbooks [1,2,3,7]
Local bending of a small section of length δs by an angle δθ is penalized by a bending energy cost δH = ( B/2)(δθ )2 /(δs) quadratic in δθ
Summary
Polymers are large molecules comprising one or a few repeating chemical motives called monomers. That in dense solutions, or in melts, the excluded volume is screened and the polymer configurations remain ideal. This encourages us to use mean-field theory to describe these systems. Polyelectrolytes are seen as polymers whose monomers interact via the 3D screened electrostatic Yukawa-like potential q2 lrB e−κ D r expressed in thermal units between charges q counted in elementary charges with l B the Bjerrum length (≈0.7 nm in water) and κ D the inverse Debye screening length. The electrostatic excluded volume associated with the second virial of the screened potential typically does not swell the stiff biofilaments, except for long d-DNA’s.
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