Fundamentals of Polymer Physics and Molecular Biophysics

This book discusses essential concepts that can be used to model and analyse the static and transport behaviour of polymers.

Himadri B. Bohidar (Author)

9781107058705, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 January 2015

350 pages
25 x 19.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.88 kg

'… an excellent first step to training future researchers in biological soft matter. I recommend it as a resource for advanced physics students interested in this new and exciting field or for professors wishing to teach a graduate-level course on the topic. The text is also a welcome and succinct reference for experimentalists in this interdisciplinary field.' Rae M. Robertson-Anderson, Physics Today

Macromolecules in solutions can be distinctly characterised by their transport behaviour in solution phase. The study of the transport processes includes diffusion coefficient, sedimentation coefficient, intrinsic viscosity and friction constant. The question arises as to how to explicitly characterise the macromolecules from the data of coefficients. This book answers this question in a systematic manner. It provides physical interpretation of the data obtained in macromolecular transport phenomena in a given system and also addresses some important issues and concepts related to biopolymers such as proteins and nucleic acids. The application of concepts like conformational properties and salient physicochemical features of protein and nucleic acids is also elucidated in the book. Based on the molecular structure, it provides the essential concepts which can be used to model and analyse the static and transport behaviour of polymers and biopolymers.

List of figures
Preface
1. Essential thermodynamic and statistical concepts
2. Polymer structure and nomenclature
3. Polymer solutions
4. Phase stability and phase transitions
5. Static properties of single chains
6. Diffusion
7. Viscosity of polymer solutions
8. Sedimentation
9. Concentration regimes and scaling
10. Internal dynamics
11. Dynamics in polymer gels
12. Molecular biophysics
13. Structure of biopolymers
14. Physics of proteins
15. Physics of nucleic acids
16. Special topics
Index.

Subject Areas: Plastics & polymers technology [TDCP], Polymer chemistry [PNNP], Atomic & molecular physics [PHM], Condensed matter physics [liquid state & solid state physics PHFC], Physics [PH]