Topology and Dynamics of Ring Polymers

Dear Colleague,

Nonconcatenated ring polymers, i.e., macromolecules with linked chain ends, constitute a unique class of macromolecular materials to which established molecular mechanisms that are based on the motion of free chain ends, such as reptation through an effective confining tube, contour length fluctuations, and constraint release, do not directly apply; thus, we are in need of new concepts and theories for understanding their dynamics, conformation, and flow properties. Intense research work over the years has documented that ring polymers exhibit fascinating dynamic and viscoelastic properties that are quite often exceptionally different from those of their linear analogues and variants thereof (e.g., branched, H-shaped, star, comb). For example, we know today that ring polymers flow faster and assume more compact structures than linear counterparts, they do not exhibit the well-known entanglement plateau, their extensional viscosity dramatically increases under uniaxial stretching at low stretching rates, and their response to nonlinear shear and extensional flows is sensitive to small levels of linear contamination. It is also true that due to these distinctive properties, ring polymers find extended uses in several applications in modern areas of biotechnology, biology, and materials science. Understanding the behavior of ring polymers under flow conditions, in particular, can open a new route in our efforts to exploit their unique viscoelastic properties in order to design more efficient new materials and structures with controlled and highly tunable properties.

This Special Issue of Polymers invites contributions addressing all aspects of ring polymer rheology using experiments or theory or simulation. Topics may include the investigation of flow dynamics of DNA rings, measurements of the response of synthetic ring polymer melts or their blends with linear counterparts under shear or extensional flows, nonequilibrium simulations of ring polymer melts and solutions, new theoretical approaches, and the linear and nonlinear rheology of ring polymer nanocomposites. The above is only an indicative and by no means exhaustive list; on the contrary, any original work or review article on the rheology of ring polymers will be highly welcome!

Dr. Dimitrios Tsalikis
Dr. Pavlos Stephanou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Ring polymer melts, solutions, blends, nanocomposites
• Circular DNA
• Nonlinear rheology, shear rheology, extensional rheology
• Simulations (molecular, coarse-grained, Brownian, slip-link models)