POLYMER TRANSLOCATION THROUGH A NANOPORE

Abstract

The phenomenon of polymer translocation plays an important role in biology and technological applications such as genome sequencing and polymer separation. Most previous computational studies of polymer translocation focused exclusively on linear chains. Moreover, the pore was idealized as having a cylindrical or planar geometry. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to investigate the effect of pore geometry and polymer architecture upon the translocation time. In the first project, linear polymer translocation through tortuous and corrugated nanopores was studied. Both pore geometries were found to be effective in reducing the translocation velocity. The remainder of the thesis focuses on star polymer translocation. For translocation between unbounded domains, the translocation time exhibits stronger variation with the polymer functionality in good as compared to poor solvent. For translocation into a confined space, the translocation time is sensitive to the confining geometry and nature of polymer-wall interactions in this region.