Drying Induced Hydrophobic Polymer Collapse
Soft Condensed Matter
2007-05-23 v1 Statistical Mechanics
Abstract
We have used computer simulation to study the collapse of a hydrophobic chain in water. We find that the mechanism of collapse is much like that of a first order phase transition. The evaporation of water in the vicinity of the polymer provides the driving force for collapse, and the rate limiting step is the nucleation of a sufficiently large vapor bubble. The study is made possible through the application of transition path sampling and a coarse grained treatment of liquid water. Relevance of our findings to understanding the folding and assembly of proteins is discussed.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0207126,
title = {Drying Induced Hydrophobic Polymer Collapse},
author = {Pieter Rein ten Wolde and David Chandler},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0207126},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
6 pages, 3 figures