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Yasuyuki Maki, Rheological aspects of conformational change and molecular aggregation of macromolecules, Springer Japan, 10.1007/978-4-431-54886-7_2, 7-41, 2015.01, When the temperature of a dilute polymer solution is changed gradually far below the Θ point, the conformation of individual polymer chains changes from a random coil to a compact globular state (coil-globule transition), followed by intermolecular aggregation owing to phase separation. In this chapter, the coil-globule transition and the aggregation behavior in dilute solutions of typical neutral synthetic homopolymers, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), are reviewed, and some rheological aspects of the kinetics of chain collapse and chain aggregation are demonstrated. The applicability of the rheological concepts derived from the aggregation behavior of synthetic homopolymers to that of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) is considered.. |