Analytical Solution to the Flory-Huggins Model

J Phys Chem Lett. 2022 Aug 25;13(33):7853-7860. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c01986. Epub 2022 Aug 17.

Abstract

A self-consistent analytical solution for binodal concentrations of the two-component Flory-Huggins phase separation model is derived. We show that this form extends the validity of the Ginzburg-Landau expansion away from the critical point to cover the whole phase space. Furthermore, this analytical solution reveals an exponential scaling law of the dilute phase binodal concentration as a function of the interaction strength and chain length. We demonstrate explicitly the power of this approach by fitting experimental protein liquid-liquid phase separation boundaries to determine the effective chain length and solute-solvent interaction energies. Moreover, we demonstrate that this strategy allows us to resolve differences in interaction energy contributions of individual amino acids. This analytical framework can serve as a new way to decode the protein sequence grammar for liquid-liquid phase separation.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Proteins*
  • Solutions
  • Solvents
  • Thermodynamics

Substances

  • Proteins
  • Solutions
  • Solvents