Phys. Rev. E 77, 020802(R) (2008) [4 pages]Kinetically driven helix formation during the homopolymer collapse process
Using Langevin simulations, we find that simple “generic” bead-and-spring homopolymer chains in a sufficiently bad solvent spontaneously develop helical order during the process of collapsing from an initially stretched conformation. The helix formation is initiated by the unstable modes of the straight chain, which drive the system towards a long-lived metastable transient state. The effect is most pronounced if hydrodynamic interactions are screened. © 2008 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.77.020802
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevE.77.020802
PACS:
36.20.Ey, 82.37.−j, 87.15.H−
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