Dynamics and conformational properties of polyampholytes in external electrical fields

Abstract

In this work we report first analytical results on the dynamics and conformational properties of polyampholytes (PAs, polymers containing positive and negative charges) in the presence of external electrical fields. In terms of the Rouse model of polymer dynamics and in the so-called weak coupling limit we obtain for PAs explicitly the mean-square displacement both of the center of mass and of individual beads, and also determine the PAs' equilibrium end-to-end distance. For a singly charged PA we also relate the findings to a fractional differential equation. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.