Transport of long neutral polymers in the semidilute regime through a protein nanopore

Abdel Ghani Oukhaled, Anne Laure Biance, Juan Pelta, Loic Auvray, Laurent Bacri

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We investigate the entrance of single poly(ethylene glycol) chains into an I-hemolysin channel. We detect the frequency and duration of the current blockades induced by large neutral polymers, where chain radius is larger than pore diameter. In the semidilute regime, these chains pass only if the monomer concentration is larger than a well-defined threshold. Experiments are performed in a very large domain of concentration and molecular mass, up to 35% and 200kDa, respectively, which was previously unexplored. The variation of the dwell time as a function of molecular mass shows that the chains are extracted from the semidilute solution in contact with the pore by a reptation mechanism.

Original languageEnglish
Article number088104
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume108
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Feb 2012
Externally publishedYes

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