Time and Distance Dependence of Reversible Polymer Bridging Followed by Single-Molecule Force Spectroscopy

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• 作者：Michael J. Serpe ; Monica Rivera ; Farrell R. Kersey ; Robert L. Clark ; Stephen L. Craig
• 刊名：Langmuir
• 出版年：2008
• 出版时间：May 6, 2008
• 年：2008
• 卷：24
• 期：9
• 页码：4738 - 4742
• 全文大小：174K
• 年卷期：v.24,no.9(May 6, 2008)
• ISSN：1520-5827

文摘

Polymer bridging between surfaces plays an important role in a range of fundamental processes in the material andlife sciences. Bridges formed by main-chain reversible polymers differ from their covalent analogs in that they candynamically adjust their size and shape in response to external stimuli and have the potential to reform following bondscission. In this work, the time and distance dependence of main-chain reversible polymer bridge formation are studiedusing an atomic force microscope. The bridging process was studied using single-molecule force spectroscopy, andits dependence on the distance between surfaces and equilibration time was probed. The number of bridges formeddecreases as the gap width increases, from ~2 bridges per 14 s equilibration at separations of 5-15 nm to ~0.5 bridgesper 14 s equilibration at separations of 35-45 nm. The kinetics of bridge formation appear to be slightly faster atsmaller separations.