Calculations and simulations on phase behavior of tapered copolymers

Living copolymerization has the tendency to result in tapered copolymers. These are copolymers which have a composition change along the chain. An analytical expression can be derived for this composition change and assuming Markovian statistics, a computer model can be made to describe this system. This computer model uses Monte Carlo techniques to simulate a large number of polymer chains and calculates from this ensemble scattering properties. These scattering properties are then used to describe the phase behavior and these results are compared with theoretical predictions.