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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Molecular recognition by van der Waals interaction between polymers with sequence-specific polarizabilities
Contributor:
Lu, Bing-Sui;
Naji, Ali;
Podgornik, Rudolf
imprint:
AIP Publishing, 2015
Published in:The Journal of Chemical Physics
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1063/1.4921892
ISSN:
0021-9606;
1089-7690
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:p>We analyze van der Waals interactions between two rigid polymers with sequence-specific, anisotropic polarizabilities along the polymer backbones, so that the dipole moments fluctuate parallel to the polymer backbones. Assuming that each polymer has a quenched-in polarizability sequence which reflects, for example, the polynucleotide sequence of a double-stranded DNA molecule, we study the van der Waals interaction energy between a pair of such polymers with rod-like structure for the cases where their respective polarizability sequences are (i) distinct and (ii) identical, with both zero and non-zero correlation length of the polarizability correlator along the polymer backbones in the latter case. For identical polymers, we find a novel r−5 scaling behavior of the van der Waals interaction energy for small inter-polymer separation r, in contradistinction to the r−4 scaling behavior of distinct polymers, with furthermore a pronounced angular dependence favoring attraction between sufficiently aligned identical polymers. Such behavior can assist the molecular recognition between polymers.</jats:p>