Stability of helical conformations of simple linear polymers

The potential energy of polyethylene, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyoxymethylene, polyisobutylene, polyvinylidene chloride, and isotactic polypropylene with a helical conformation has been calculated as a function of the angles of rotation around the bonds of the backbone chain. The use of appropriate functions to describe the interaction between nonbonded atoms in the chains, has allowed prediction with surprising accuracy of the most stable conformation for the each polymer considered, in spite of the rather drastic assumptions involved in the calculations. The most prominent feature of the potential energy diagrams are discussed with reference to the possibility of predicting the allowed helical conformations for the isolated unperturbed polymer chains considered.