A dynamical theory of nucleation for colloids and macromolecules.

A general theory of nucleation for colloids and macromolecules in solution is formulated within the context of fluctuating hydrodynamics. A formalism for the determination of nucleation pathways is developed and stochastic differential equations for the evolution of order parameters are given. The conditions under which the elements of classical nucleation theory are recovered are determined. The theory provides a justification and extension of more heuristic equilibrium approaches based solely on the free energy. It is illustrated by application to the low-concentration/high-concentration transition in globular proteins, where a novel two-step mechanism is identified, where the first step involves the formation of long-wavelength density fluctuations, and the second step is the actual nucleation event occurring within the fluctuation.

• Publication year

  2011

• Venue

  Journal of Chemical Physics

• Publication date

  2011-10-26

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Physics, Chemistry

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1063/1.3677191arXiv 1110.5734PMID 22280769
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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