ON THE EXTENSION OF POLYSOAPS - THE GAUSSIAN APPROXIMATION

Polysoaps are linear hydrophilic chains that incorporate, at intervals , covalently bound amphiphilic monomers. In water, the amphiphilic mon omers self assemble into intrachain micelles thus endowing the chain w ith a secondary structure. The relaxation of the secondary structure u pon deformation qualitatively modifies the elastic behaviour of polyso aps in accordance with the LeChatelier principle. For long polysoaps a regime in which the tension in the chain, f, is independent of the en d to end distance R, f similar to R degrees is predicted. The extensio n of long polysoaps is analysed for the particularly simple case when the backbone obeys Gaussian statistics and excluded volume interaction s are neglected.