We study the conformational behavior of polarizable polymer chain under anexternal homogeneous electric field within the Flory type self-consistent fieldtheory. We consider the influence of electric field on the polymer coil as wellas on the polymer globule. We show that when the polymer chain conformation isa coil, application of external electric field leads to its additionalswelling. However, when the polymer conformation is a globule, a sufficientlystrong field can induce a globule-coil transition. We show that such$"$field-induced$"$ globule-coil transition at the sufficiently small monomerpolarizabilities goes quite smoothly. On the contrary, when the monomerpolarizability exceeds a certain threshold value, the globule-coil transitionoccurs as a dramatic expansion in the regime of first-order phase transition.The developed theoretical model can be applied to predicting polymer globuledensity change under external electric field in order to provide more efficientprocesses of polymer functionalization, such as sorption, dyeing, chemicalmodification, etc.
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