Title: TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF SOME PROPERTIES OF STAR-BRANCHED POLYMERS IN CONFINED SPACE. A MONTE CARLO STUDY
Author(s): P.Romiszowski (Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, 02--093 Warszawa, Poland)

A simulation study of star-branched molecules with $3$ arms was performed in a space confined between two parallel repulsive walls, which were at the distance $d$ apart. The simulations were performed for chains on a simple cubic lattice. The chains consisted of $N= 49$, $100$ and $199$ beads. During the simulations the solvent quality has been varied by means of changing the segment-segment interactions. Also the thickness of a layer between the walls has been changed. The results show that there is a coil-to-globule transition. The transition temperature does not depend on the confinement. However, the scaling exponents of the radius of gyration of the chains are sensitive to value $d$.

Key words: Monte Carlo simulation, confined space, branched polymers, coil-globule transition
PACS: 02.70.Lq, 36.20.Ey, 61.25.Hq, 07.05.Tp