Distribution of segment length

To obtain the distributions of segment lengths and branch point, it is necessary to carry out a detailed analysis. Soares and Hamielec [87] used a Monte Carlo computational scheme to calculate all the relevant structural parameters. A diagram of the Monte Carlo algorithm used is shown in Fig. 3.2. Polymer molecules are built up one by one and added to a pool. As the number of molecules created in this manner increases, the distributions become closer and closer to that in the polymer. 

When the polymer (chain length N ) is dissolved In a solvent which is not a monomer but a chain molecule with segments of the same type (Nj < N ), we have a polymer melt with a bimodal distribution of chain lengths. In (5.5.16),... 

Fig. 3. Distribution of the lengths of the most hydrophobic segments in samples of cytosolic proteins ( , N = 134), signal peptides ( , N - 170), and C-terminal transmembrane segments (O, N = 35). Courtesy of Gunnar von Heijne.

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