US-Turkey Cooperative Research: Coil-to-Globule Transitions in Polymer Solutions

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9911091Karasz Description: This project supports a cooperative project by the Professor Frank Karasz, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Dr. Bahattin Baysal, Director, Research Institute of Basic Sciences at the Marmara Research Center (MRC) in Gebze, Turkey. The two scientists propose to extend their research on polymer-solvent systems. They intend to extend the studies to more highly polar systems, in particular to poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide), poly(N-n-propylacrylamide) and their random copolymers in dilute aqueous solution. In addition they will study coil collapse in a selected random copolymer-solvent system, on the premise that this constitutes an intermediate step between the simple homopolymer and the highly complex protein cases. They suggest using dynamic light scattering techniques for detailed studies of coil collapse in near theta conditions for polar macromolecules. The application of this research is in relating the polymeric behavior to cases of biological structures.Scope: The proposal addresses an important area, that of collapse transition of macromolecules from the coil to the compact globular state. This research on polymer coil collapse in poor solvents is intimately related to certain biological processes, including protein folding and DNA packing. The US investigator is a well-known research leader in polymer science. The Turkish scientist is an internationally known polymer chemist who leads a strong group of scientists at Turkey's major governmental research establishment, the MRC, near Istanbul. This project fits the mission of the Division of International Programs (INT) for support of mutually beneficial research. The project is supported by INT and the Division of Materials Research.