Intramolecular structure and dynamics in computationally designed peptide-based polymers displaying tunable chain stiffness

Nairiti J. Sinha, Yi Shi, Yao Tang, Christopher J. Kloxin, Jeffery G. Saven, Antonio Faraone, Grethe V. Jensen, and Darrin J. Pochan

Phys. Rev. Materials 5, 095601 – Published 7 September 2021

Abstract

Polymers assembled using computationally designed coiled coil bundlemers display tunable stiffness via control of interbundlemer covalent connectivity as confirmed using small-angle neutron scattering. Neutron spin echo spectroscopy reveals that rigid rod polymers show a decay rate $Γ \sim Q^{2}$ ( $Q$ is the scattering vector) expected of straight cylinders. Semirigid polymers assembled using bundlemers linked via 4-armed organic linker show flexible segmental dynamics at mid- $Q$ and $Γ \sim Q^{2}$ behavior at high Q. The results give insight into linker flexibility-dependent interbundlemer dynamics in the hybrid polymers.

Received 10 November 2020
Revised 7 June 2021
Accepted 4 August 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.5.095601

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Biomimetic & bio-inspired materials

Biomolecules Polymers

Electron microscopy Neutron scattering Neutron spin echo spectroscopy Polymer theory

Polymers & Soft Matter

Authors & Affiliations

Nairiti J. Sinha^1,2, Yi Shi¹, Yao Tang ¹, Christopher J. Kloxin^1,3, Jeffery G. Saven ⁴, Antonio Faraone², Grethe V. Jensen ^2,3,*, and Darrin J. Pochan ^1,†

¹Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA
²NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR), National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA
³Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA
⁴Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA

^*Present address: Danish Technological Institute, Tåstrup, Denmark.
^†Corresponding author: pochan@udel.edu