Abstract
Using an exact solution for the pair interaction potential, we show that long, rigid, chiral molecules with helical surface charge patterns have a preferential interaxial angle , where is the length of the molecules, is the closest distance between their axes, and is the helical pitch. Estimates based on this formula suggest a solution for the puzzle of small interaxial angles in -helix bundles and in cholesteric phases of DNA.
- Received 3 August 1999
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.2537
©2000 American Physical Society