Hydrodynamic properties of rodlike and disklike particles in dilute solution

The hydrodynamic properties of cylindrical (rodlike and discoidal) particles in dilute solution have been computed using the bead-shell model treatment. Previous results [Tirado and Garcia de la Torre, J. Chem. Phys. 71, 2581 (1979); 73, 1993 (1980)] for rods with length-to-diameter ratio p>2 are now extended to short cylinders and disks down to p=0.1. The intrinsic viscosity is obtained for rods and disks, and results are presented for the three rotational relaxation times of a cylindrical particle. The hydrodynamic properties are expressed in forms that have a weak variation with p, and are therefore useful for the analysis of experimental values. We present examples of the determination of the length and diameter of the cylindrical particles, for DNA oligonucleotides and tobacco mosaic virus. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.