Imagine mixing together millions of identical molecules to form an aggregate. What structure will be produced? These molecules are charged and interact with acid or base, so the answer to this question depends on the salt concentration and on pH. Recently scientists at Northwestern have developed a set of computational methods that makes it possible to determine which structures are produced for varying salt and pH concentrations. The figure below shows the resulting phase diagram that has been predicted by calculations and confirmed by experiment. The aggregates being made have found uses in applications to nerve cell regeneration, so knowing the conditions where aggregation can occur is important to determining the optimum conditions for regeneration.
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