Effect of Ring Composition on the Statics and Dynamics of Block Copolyelectrolyte Catenanes

IF 5.1 1区化学 Q1 POLYMER SCIENCE

Macromolecules Pub Date : 2025-04-18 DOI:10.1021/acs.macromol.5c00099

Pietro Chiarantoni, Andrea Tagliabue, Massimo Mella, Cristian Micheletti

{"title":"Effect of Ring Composition on the Statics and Dynamics of Block Copolyelectrolyte Catenanes","authors":"Pietro Chiarantoni, Andrea Tagliabue, Massimo Mella, Cristian Micheletti","doi":"10.1021/acs.macromol.5c00099","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"We use Langevin simulations to study the effect of ring composition on the structure and dynamics of model polycatenanes with copolyelectrolyte rings, each made of one charged and one neutral block. Key observables have a nonmonotonic dependence on ring composition, including the radius of gyration, mechanical bond length, orientational correlations, and rotational relaxation times. Microscopic analysis shows that these nonmonotonicities arise from the competition between electrostatic repulsion, pulling rings apart, and topological constraints, enforcing the proximity of neighboring rings. By locking charged-neutral interfaces at the mechanically bonded regions, this interplay can induce a strong chemical orientational order along the catenane while also hindering the local relaxation dynamics. Chemical orientation defects, manifesting as neutral–neutral interfaces, can emerge too and migrate along the catenane via coupled reorientations of neighboring rings. Our results clarify how ring composition and mechanical bonds can define the properties of topological materials across different scales.","PeriodicalId":51,"journal":{"name":"Macromolecules","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Macromolecules","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.5c00099","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"POLYMER SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

We use Langevin simulations to study the effect of ring composition on the structure and dynamics of model polycatenanes with copolyelectrolyte rings, each made of one charged and one neutral block. Key observables have a nonmonotonic dependence on ring composition, including the radius of gyration, mechanical bond length, orientational correlations, and rotational relaxation times. Microscopic analysis shows that these nonmonotonicities arise from the competition between electrostatic repulsion, pulling rings apart, and topological constraints, enforcing the proximity of neighboring rings. By locking charged-neutral interfaces at the mechanically bonded regions, this interplay can induce a strong chemical orientational order along the catenane while also hindering the local relaxation dynamics. Chemical orientation defects, manifesting as neutral–neutral interfaces, can emerge too and migrate along the catenane via coupled reorientations of neighboring rings. Our results clarify how ring composition and mechanical bonds can define the properties of topological materials across different scales.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Macromolecules 工程技术-高分子科学

CiteScore

9.30

自引率

16.40%

发文量

942

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： Macromolecules publishes original, fundamental, and impactful research on all aspects of polymer science. Topics of interest include synthesis (e.g., controlled polymerizations, polymerization catalysis, post polymerization modification, new monomer structures and polymer architectures, and polymerization mechanisms/kinetics analysis); phase behavior, thermodynamics, dynamic, and ordering/disordering phenomena (e.g., self-assembly, gelation, crystallization, solution/melt/solid-state characteristics); structure and properties (e.g., mechanical and rheological properties, surface/interfacial characteristics, electronic and transport properties); new state of the art characterization (e.g., spectroscopy, scattering, microscopy, rheology), simulation (e.g., Monte Carlo, molecular dynamics, multi-scale/coarse-grained modeling), and theoretical methods. Renewable/sustainable polymers, polymer networks, responsive polymers, electro-, magneto- and opto-active macromolecules, inorganic polymers, charge-transporting polymers (ion-containing, semiconducting, and conducting), nanostructured polymers, and polymer composites are also of interest. Typical papers published in Macromolecules showcase important and innovative concepts, experimental methods/observations, and theoretical/computational approaches that demonstrate a fundamental advance in the understanding of polymers.