Entropy 2008, 10(3), 285-308; doi:10.3390/e10030285
Article

Conformational Entropy of an Ideal Cross-Linking Polymer Chain

Oleg K. Vorov 1 email, Dennis R. Livesay 2 email and Donald J. Jacobs 1,* email
1 Department of Physics and Optical Science, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA 2 Department of Computer Science and Bioinformatics Research Center, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 8 August 2008; in revised form: 10 September 2008 / Accepted: 19 September 2008 / Published: 20 September 2008
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropies of Polymers)
PDF Full-text Download PDF Full-Text [556 KB, uploaded 28 September 2008 17:08 CEST]
Abstract: We present a novel analytical method to calculate conformational entropy of ideal cross-linking polymers from the configuration integral by employing a Mayer series expansion. Mayer-functions describing chemical bonds within the chain and for cross-links are sharply peaked over the temperature range of interest, and, are well approximated as statistically weighted Dirac delta-functions that enforce distance constraints. All geometrical deformations consistent with a set of distance constraints are integrated over. Exact results for a contiguous series of connected loops are employed to substantiate the validity of a previous phenomenological distance constraint model that describes protein thermodynamics successfully based on network rigidity.
Keywords: Conformational entropy; Mayer expansion; distance constraints; cross-linking; hydrogen bonds; network rigidity; protein stability

Article Statistics

Click here to load and display the download statistics.

Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Vorov, O.K.; Livesay, D.R.; Jacobs, D.J. Conformational Entropy of an Ideal Cross-Linking Polymer Chain. Entropy 2008, 10, 285-308.

AMA Style

Vorov OK, Livesay DR, Jacobs DJ. Conformational Entropy of an Ideal Cross-Linking Polymer Chain. Entropy. 2008; 10(3):285-308.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vorov, Oleg K.; Livesay, Dennis R.; Jacobs, Donald J. 2008. "Conformational Entropy of an Ideal Cross-Linking Polymer Chain." Entropy 10, no. 3: 285-308.

Entropy EISSN 1099-4300 Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland RSS E-Mail Table of Contents Alert