Self-association of copolymers with various composition profiles

In this paper, we present Monte Carlo study of the self-assembly of linear copolymers consisting of two types of segments (well soluble A and insoluble B segments) in selective solvents. We used simple lattice model: chains were represented by self-avoiding random walks and quality of solvent for both types of segments was controlled by pair interaction parameters. We analyzed how the association behavior depends on the composition profile, i.e., on the sequence of segments A and B along the chain. The size and structure of associates formed by chains with different composition profiles were compared with those of diblock copolymers with the same content of A and B segments. It was shown that even small changes in the sequence of segments within the chains lead to significant differences in the association behavior. In addition to composition profiles, we also shown how the association behavior depends on the quality of solvent and copolymer concentration.