English

Electrostatically assisted macroion association

Soft Condensed Matter 2021-10-12 v1

Abstract

A model system of highly asymmetric polyelectrolyte with directional short-range attractive interactions was studied by canonical Monte Carlo computer simulations. Comparison of MC data with previously published theoretical results shows good agreement. For moderate values of binding energies, which matches those of molecular docking, a dynamic equilibrium between free and dimerized macroions is observed. Fraction of dimerized macroions depends on macroion concentration, binding energy magnitude, and on the valency of small counterions. Divalent counterions induce an effective attraction between macroions and enhance dimerization. This effect is most notable at low to moderate macroion concentrations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2110.04513,
  title  = {Electrostatically assisted macroion association},
  author = {J. Rescic},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.04513},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

8 pages, 6 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-24T06:45:31.715Z