Conformational transitions in a lattice model of a three-component mixture of solvent, amphiphile, and soluble polymers

摘要

We present a lattice model of amphiphile, solvent and polymer. The model is simulated in a hybrid Monte Carlo scheme using the grand canonical ensemble for solvent and amphiphile, and the canonical ensemble for the polymer. The model has been studied for a limited range of parameters, albeit consistent with the most elementary properties of surfactants and polymer. However, despite this apparently very simple set of microscopic interactions, a number of concentration-dependent effective interactions emerge, and cause conformational transitions of the polymer. We examine surfactant-polymer binding curves to relate these conformational changes of the polymer to binding, We have established the viability of using Monte Carlo simulations to study solutions of amphiphile, polymer and solvent. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(98)51304-9]. [References: 64]