Conformations of Bridging Polyelectrolytes in Poor Solvent: Single-Chain Self-Consistent Field Calculations

We report on numerical self-consistent field (SCF) calculations on the single-chain conformation of an electrostatically charged, yet poorly soluble, flexible polymer. We find numerical evidence that a “necklace of beads” conformation is self-organized and speculate that the predicted cascade of conformational transitions can be probed via a single-chain mechanical experiment with an atomic force microscope.