An extended study of the phase separation between phospholipids and grafted polymers on a bilayer biomembrane

Abstract

We re-examine here the phase separation between phospholipids and adsorbed polymer chains on a fluid membrane with a change in some suitable parameter (temperature). Our purpose is to quantify the significant effects of the solvent quality and of the polydispersity of adsorbed loops formed by grafted polymer chains on the segregation phenomenon. To this end, we elaborate on a theoretical model that allows us to derive the expression for the mixing free energy. From this, we extract the phase diagram shape in the composition–temperature plane. Our main conclusion is that the polymer chain condensation is very sensitive to the solvent quality and to the polydispersity of loops of adsorbed chains.