The importance of branch placement on the
dilute solution properties of comb-like
macromolecules
Robert J. S. Ivancic,
∗,†
Chase B. Thompson,
‡
Devin A. Golla,
¶
Bintou Koroma,
§
Jack F. Douglas,
†
Sara V. Orski,
†
and Debra J. Audus
†
†Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and
Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
‡Leidos Inc., 1750 Presidents Street, Reston, Virginia 20190, United States
¶Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States
§Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
20742, United States
E-mail: robert.ivancic@nist.gov
Abstract
Branch density and length substantially impact the properties of comb-like poly-
mers. Scientists often use the dilute solution properties of these materials to quantify
their architecture. As branch spacing decreases and branch length increases at a fixed
molecular mass, dilute solution properties such as the radius of gyration, intrinsic vis-
cosity, and hydrodynamic radius typically decrease because the length of the backbone
decreases. However, this decrease is only partially driven by this change in backbone
length, even for relatively short branches. While many models focus on predicting the
1
