POLYSOAPS - THE SIGNATURES OF INTRACHAIN SELF-ASSEMBLY IN THETA-SOLVENTS

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. Long polysoaps adopt a variety of configura tions involving many intrachain micelles. While the stable configurati on is that of a dense globule of closely packed micelles, it is also i mportant to consider metastable configurations such as linear and bran ched strings of micelles. Theoretical discussion of these issues is pr esented for the case of a (.)theta solvent for the hydrophilic backbon e.