Polymer chains in confined spaces and flow-injection problems: some remarks

TL;DR

This paper explores the behavior of polymer chains in confined spaces, distinguishing confinement regimes, and examines flow-injection into nanoscopic pores, including experimental and generalized branched polymer considerations.

Contribution

It introduces a new classification of confinement regimes and extends the analysis to branched polymers and flow-injection into nanoscopic pores.

Findings

Identification of weak and strong confinement regimes

Insights into polymer partitioning into protein pores

Analysis of flow-injection properties for branched polymers

Abstract

We revisit the classical problem of the behavior of an isolated linear polymer chain in confined spaces, introducing the distinction between two different confinement regimes (the {\it weak} and the {\it strong} confinement regimes, respectively). We then discuss some recent experimental findings concerning the partitioning of individual polymers into protein pores. We also generalize our study to the case of branched polymers, and study the flow-injection properties of such objects into nanoscopic pores, for which the strong confinement regime plays an important role.