Scaling Law for Sequence-Induced Demixing of Compositionally Identical Copolymers

Abstract

The critical incompatibility of polymers with different compositions scales inversely with their length. For instance, a mixture of A and B homopolymers of length $N$ segregates at $χ_{AB}^{cr} = 2/N$. But what if the difference between the blend components is subtler? We demonstrate that a mixture of AB copolymers with identical composition -- equal amounts of A and B monomers -- but different primary sequences can still phase separate. Incompatibility arises from distinct positional correlations between monomers of different chains. Calculating the Gaussian fluctuation correction to the free energy reveals that critical incompatibility from sequence differences follows a distinct yet universal scaling with chain length, $χ_{AB}^{cr} \sim 1 / \sqrt{N}$. This power law holds for both regular-sequence and statistical copolymers. A closed-form expression is derived for blends of block-alternating chains. The new theoretical scaling is confirmed by coarse-grained simulations, offering important insights into multiphase coexistence in biomolecular condensates.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: Compositionally identical AB copolymers with different primary sequences, $\alpha$ and $\beta$. Effective incompatibility between them, $\chi_{\alpha\beta} \neq 0$, arises due to correlation effects.
• Figure 2: Simulation dependence of the critical Flory-Huggins parameter $\chi_{AB}^{cr}$ on the length $N$ in a binary blend of compositionally identical AB copolymers with different sequences. The insets in panel (b) illustrate the observed liquid-liquid macrophase separation; only $\beta$ chains are rendered opaque, while $\alpha$ chains are semi-transparent for visual clarity.