Molecular dynamics simulation of a single polymer chain in vacuum and in solution Original Research Article

Molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to study the structure formation of a single polymer chain in vacuum and in solution. We find that, in both cases, the folded orientationally ordered structure is formed at a low temperature by quenching from a random configuration at a higher temperature. It is also found that the stem length of the folded orientationally ordered structure formed in solution is longer than that formed in vacuum. This result is caused by the fact that the persistence length of a polymer chain in solution becomes longer than that in vacuum.