Diffusion-Controlled Intrachain Reactions of Polymers. I Theory

A theory of diffusion-controlled intramolecularly catalyzed reactions of polymer chains in dilute solution is formulated. A closure approximation yields a soluble integral equation for (essentially) the transient rate of the reaction. The time dependent solution consists of a sum of simple exponential terms whose coefficients and decay constants can be readily calculated. The theory is also applied to luminescence quenching and ring-chain interconversion.