A cosolvent surfactant mechanism affects polymer collapse in miscible good solvents.

ABSTRACT: The coil-globule transition of aqueous polymers is of profound significance in understanding the structure and function of responsive soft matter. In particular, the remarkable effect of amphiphilic cosolvents (e.g., alcohols) that leads to both swelling and collapse of stimuli-responsive polymers has been hotly debated in the literature, often with contradictory mechanisms proposed. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we herein demonstrate that alcohols reduce the free energy cost of creating a repulsive polymer-solvent interface via a surfactant-like mechanism which surprisingly drives polymer collapse at low alcohol concentrations. This hitherto neglected role of interfacial solvation thermodynamics is common to all coil-globule transitions, and rationalizes the experimentally observe

SUBMITTER: Bharadwaj S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9814688 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature