Eur. Phys. J. E 9, 41-46 (2002)
DOI: 10.1140/epje/i2002-10055-7

Radial distribution function of rod-like polyelectrolytes

R. Zandi¹, J. Rudnick² and R. Golestanian<sup>3

1</sup>  Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA, Box 951569, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569, USA
²  Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA, Box 951547, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547, USA
³  Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences, Zanjan 45195-159, Iran, Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, P.O. Box 19395-5531, Tehran, Iran

jrudnick@physics.ucla.edu

(Received 4 March 2002 and Received in final form 1 July 2002 / Published online: 22 November 2002)

Abstract
We study the effect of electrostatic interactions on the distribution function of the end-to-end distance of a single polyelectrolyte chain in the rod-like limit. The extent to which the radial distribution function of a polyelectrolyte is reproduced by that of a wormlike chain with an adjusted effective persistence length is investigated. Strong evidence is found for a universal scaling formula connecting the effective persistence length of a polyelectrolyte with the strength of the electrostatic interaction and the Debye screening length.

PACS
82.35.Rs - Polyelectrolytes.
87.15.La - Mechanical properties.
36.20.-r - Macromolecules and polymer molecules.

© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2002