Nonconventional scenarios of polymer self-assembly

Abstract

Synthetic and natural polymers are capable of self-assembling into complex three-dimensional ensembles. It opens ways for creation of the ordered supramolecular nanostructures with a controllable morphology. The use of supercomputers allows us to perform numerical experiments aiming at predicting new forms and new ways of polymer self-organization. In this mini-review, we discuss some examples illustrating nonconventional forms of self-organization which were recently predicted by computer simulation. With emphasis on our own results, the main focus is on polymer self-assembly at mesoscale, i.e., at length scales intermediate between atomistic and macroscopic.