Configurational-conformational statistics of stereoirregular polystyrene

The dependence of the configurational-conformational characteristics, such as the mean-square end-to-end distance, the mean-square radius of gyration, and the temperature coefficient of the stereoirregular polystyrene chains on the fraction of meso dyads, P_m was investigated, using the periodic condition method. The calculation shows that polystyrene has the most compact chain when P_m = 0.7, and the temperature coefficient of the characteristic ratio of the mean-square end-to-end distance reaches the minimum, ?0.89 × 10^?3 K^?1, at P_m = 0.5. The theoretical result of the mean-square radius of gyration for atactic polystyrene, 〈S²〉^1/2 = 0.2245 M^0.5106 shows good agreement with the experimental measurement in both bulk amorphous state and θ-solvent.