The principles that underlie the motion of colloidal particles in concentration gradients and the propulsion of chemically-powered synthetic nanomotors are used to design active polymer chains. The active chains contain catalytic and noncatalytic monomers, or beads, at the ends or elsewhere along the polymer chain. A chemical reaction at the catalytic bead produces a self-generated concentration gradient and the noncatalytic bead responds to this gradient by a diffusiophoretic mechanism that causes these two beads to move towards each other. Because of this chemotactic response, the dynamical properties of these active polymer chains are very different from their inactive counterparts. In particular, we show that ring closure and loop formation are much more rapid than those for inactive chains, which rely primarily on diffusion to bring distant portions of the chain in close proximity. The mechanism presented in this paper can be extended to other chemical systems which rely on diffusion to bring reagents into contact for reactions to occur. This study suggests the possibility that synthetic systems could make use of chemically-powered active motion or chemotaxis to effectively carry out complex transport tasks in reaction dynamics, much like those that molecular motors perform in biological systems.

We simulate a semi-flexible active filament that exhibits spontaneous oscillations on clamping and show self-propulsion when left free. The activity on the filament relies on the nano-dimers distributed at regular intervals along the chain. With an emphasis on the spontaneous beating of a clamped filament, we demonstrate that the two competing forces necessary for oscillation are the elastic forces due to polymer rigidity and the active forces due to chemical activity. In addition, we also study the synchronization of two extensile filaments and the role played by non-local hydrodynamic interactions. We observe a phase lock scenario between the filaments during their synchronous motion.

The motion of cells in tissues is an ubiquitous phenomenon. In particular, in monolayered cell colonies in vitro, pronounced collective behavior with swirl-like motion has been observed deep within a cell colony, while at the same time, the colony remains cohesive, with not a single cell escaping at the edge. Thus, the colony displays liquid-like properties inside, in coexistence with a cell-free “vacuum” outside. We propose an active Brownian particle model with attraction, in which the interaction potential has a broad minimum to give particles enough wiggling space to be collectively in the fluid state. We demonstrate that for moderate propulsion, this model can generate the fluid-vacuum coexistence described above. In addition, the combination of the fluid nature of the colony with cohesion leads to preferred orientation of the cell polarity, pointing outward, at the edge, which in turn gives rise to a tensile stress in the colony—as observed experimentally for epithelial sheets. For stronger propulsion, collective detachment of cell clusters is predicted. Further addition of an alignment preference of cell polarity and velocity direction results in enhanced coordinated, swirl-like motion, increased tensile stress and cell-cluster detachment.

A self-propelling semiflexible filament exhibits a variety of dynamical states depending on the flexibility and activity of the filament. Here we investigate the dynamics of such an active filament using a bead-spring model with the explicit hydrodynamic interactions. The activity in the filament is incorporated by inserting chemically active dimers at regular intervals along the chain. The chemical reactions at the catalytic bead of the dimer produces a self-generated concentration gradient and gives sufficient fuel to exhibit self-propulsion for the filament. Depending upon the rigidity and the configuration, the polymeric filament exhibits three distinct types of spontaneous motion, namely, rotational, snaking, and translational motion. The self-propulsion velocity of the filament for various rigidity and sizes has been calculated, and the factors affecting the propulsion are identified.

Summary:We have developed a model of chemically active polymers and investigated the role of activity in loop formation. The active chain contains catalytic and non-catalytic sites responsible for ring closure. A chemical reaction at the catalytic bead produces a self-generated concentration gradient and the noncatalytic bead responds to this gradients which causes these two beads to move towards each other hence forming the loop. Because of this chemotactic response the dynamics of these active polymers are very different from the inactive chain. In particular we show that the loop formation is much more rapid in active chains in comparison to the inactive chains, which rely primarily on diffusion to bring distant portions of the chain in close proximity. Here we will also investigate the effect of macromolecuar crowder particles in loop formation time of such active polymers. The mechanism presented in this paper can be extended to other chemical systems which rely on diffussion to bring reagents into contact for reactions to occur.