Conformational State Hopping of Knots in Tensioned Polymer Chains
Name
Soh_214.pdf
Description
Accepted version
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1.34 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Soh, Beatrice W
Klotz, Alexander R
Dai, Liang
Doyle, Patrick S
Date Issued
2019
Journal
ACS Macro Letters
Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society. We use Brownian dynamics simulations to study the conformational states of knots on tensioned chains. Focusing specifically on the 81 knot, we observe knot conformational state hopping and show that the process can be described by a two-state kinetic model in the presence of an external force. The distribution of knot conformational states depends on the applied chain tension, which leads to a force-dependent distribution of knot untying pathways. We generalize our findings by considering the untying pathways of other knots and find that the way knots untie is generally governed by the force applied to the chain. From a broader perspective, being able to influence how a knot unties via external force can potentially be useful for applications of single-molecule techniques in which knots are unwanted.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1021/ACSMACROLETT.9B00462
