Mobility of a Semiflexible Chain Confined in a Nanochannel

Douglas R. Tree, Yanwei Wang, and Kevin D. Dorfman
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 228105 – Published 1 June 2012

Abstract

The classic results of de Gennes and Odijk describe the mobility of a semiflexible chain confined in a nanochannel only in the limits of very weak and very strong confinement, respectively. Using Monte Carlo sampling of the Kirkwood diffusivity with full hydrodynamic interactions, we show that the mobility of a semiflexible chain exhibits a broad plateau as a function of extension before transitioning to an Odijk regime, and that the width of the plateau depends on the anisotropy of the monomers. For the particular case of DNA in a high ionic strength buffer, which has highly anisotropic monomers, we predict that this Rouse-like behavior will be observed over most of the measurable chain extensions seen in experiments.

  • Figure
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  • Received 2 March 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.228105

© 2012 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Douglas R. Tree1, Yanwei Wang2, and Kevin D. Dorfman1,*

  • 1Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, 421 Washington Avenue SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
  • 2Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, 199 Ren-ai Road, Suzhou 215123, People’s Republic of China

  • *dorfman@umn.edu

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Issue

Vol. 108, Iss. 22 — 1 June 2012

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