MICROSCOPIC THEORY OF POLYMER-CHAINS CONTAINING ATTRACTIVE UNITS - COPOLYMERS, IONOMERS, AND COMPLEX-FORMATION

In this paper a simple microscopic theory for partially attractive pol ymer chains is developed. For attractive polymer chains no simple theo ries such as the random phase approximation (RPA) or renormalization g roup (RG) exist, in contrast to repulsive chains. The approach used in this paper has strong similarities with the theory of superconductors . Apart form normal microscopic density fields special pair fields are introduced, whose physical properties are sensitive to the behavior o f two monomers of the attractive kind. A new version of the RPA is int roduced, that is valid for attractive polymer systems. The collapse tr ansition, globule formation, or ionomer binding can be mapped onto the formation of cooper pairs in the BCS theory. This theory can be appli ed to polymers in bad solvent, ionomers, polyampholytes, and the compl ex formation in multiple charged polyelectrolyte solutions.