Observation of a single polymer chain

[mah65]

Hi,

I have a question regarding polymers.
You know that polymers, basically, consist of chains of polymers, each chain including number of repeating units (monomer). These chains can be in amorphous or crystalline states.

Experimentally, is it possible to fabricate and see a single chain of a polymer using microscope (any kind of microscope)?
Or, is it possible to separate a single chain out of the polymer and observe it?

Thank you

 

[jreeder]

You can do time of flight MALDI to determine the mass of single polymer chains.

 

[Chestermiller]

Hi,

I have a question regarding polymers.
You know that polymers, basically, consist of chains of polymers, each chain including number of repeating units (monomer). These chains can be in amorphous or crystalline states.

Experimentally, is it possible to fabricate and see a single chain of a polymer using microscope (any kind of microscope)?
Or, is it possible to separate a single chain out of the polymer and observe it?

Thank you

I think I remember seeing a paper in either Nature or Science from many years ago (>20) where this had already been done.

Chet

 

[mah65]

Thank you.

If published in Nature or Science, it implies to be an important issue. Could give me the exact information or link of this paper?

 

[Klar5566]

probably using AFM you can try to goole it