Hydrophobic chains near hydrophobic surfaces—simulations in three dimensions

Abstract

The behaviour of a hydrophobic chain near a hydrophobic wall is studied in three dimensions by numerically simulating a modified version of the decorated lattice model of Widom and co-workers. The effective hydrophobic interaction is temperature dependent. The chain stretches and adheres to the hydrophobic wall in a pancake like conformation at intermediate temperatures, whereas it collapses upon itself at slightly higher temperatures. At lower or higher dimensions it is in a random coil state.