MOLECULAR SELF-ASSEMBLY OF RODLIKE PARTICLES - AN APPLICATION TO COLLAGEN

A simplified form of the Wertheim theory of chemical association has b een used to address how ellipsoidal particles with three highly locali zed interaction sites (head, tail, side) polymerize to form aggregates . Aggregation is allowed for heads with tails subject to an energy par ameter, epsilon(a), and for heads or tails with the side spot subject to a different energy parameter, epsilon(c). No side-by-side interacti ons are allowed. As epsilon(c)/epsilon(a)-->0, the aggregate becomes r odlike, whereas as epsilon(c)/epsilon(a)-->infinity, the object become s a freely rotating chain or a herringbone pattern. When the present t heory is applied to self assembly of type I collagen, it is found that each epsilon(c) and epsilon(a) correspond to the anchoring caused by two H bonds. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.