Real-Time Imaging of the Coil-Globule Transition of Single Adsorbed Poly(2-vinylpyridine) Molecules
✍ Scribed by Marat O. Gallyamov; Alexei R. Khokhlov; Martin Möller
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2005
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 312 KB
- Volume
- 26
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1022-1336
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Summary: We applied scanning force microscopy to study, in real time, the mobility and reorganisation of single poly(2‐vinylpyridine) molecules that were adsorbed on mica and exposed to vapours of ethanol or water. The macromolecules adopted a compact globular conformation in ethanol‐saturated vapour and extended to a surface‐bound two‐dimensional coil in water‐saturated vapour. Hence, reversible coil‐to‐globule conformational transitions of flexible polymer chains were directly visualized with unique molecular resolution.
Left: individual P2VP molecules on mica compacted by exposure to ethanol vapour, right: the same macromolecules extended in water vapour.
imageLeft: individual P2VP molecules on mica compacted by exposure to ethanol vapour, right: the same macromolecules extended in water vapour.