Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 224, 2177-2191 (2015)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2015-02407-x

Review

Thermodynamic consistency and other challenges in coarse-graining models

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Institute of Theoretical Science, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA

^a e-mail: mguenza@uoregon.edu

Received: 18 February 2015
Revised: 5 May 2015
Published online: 22 June 2015

Abstract

This paper presents a critical discussion of coarse-graining models of complex molecular liquids, starting from the Integral Equation Coarse-Graining method (IECG). For liquids of macro- molecules this method allows for the analytical solution of the coarse-graining formalism, including the effective pair potential, and providing in this way a convenient framework to study general issues concerning coarse-graining.