Mobile rings on a polyrotaxane lead to a yield force

Matthew B. Pinson, Edith M. Sevick*, David R.M. Williams

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    33 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We examine the role of mobile rings on the stretching profile of a single polyrotaxane molecule that is tethered in space by fixing one of the rings, the "control ring". We show that the translational entropy of the mobile rings can lead to dramatic changes in the response of the chain at small applied forces. In particular, if the mobile rings are placed asymmetrically about the control ring, the chain can be very stiff at low force, displaying a yield force below which chain extension is minimal. However, at large forces, the entropy of the chain dominates the response of the polyrotaxane, and the effect of the mobile rings is negligible. These predictions of a stiffer polyrotaxane chain with added mobile rings might have implications in the design of polyrotaxane gels.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)4191-4197
    Number of pages7
    JournalMacromolecules
    Volume46
    Issue number10
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 28 May 2013

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