  The lattice cluster theory (LCT) for the thermodynamics of polymer systems
has recently been reformulated to treat strongly interacting self-assembling
polymers composed of fully flexible linear telechelic chains [J. Dudowicz and
K. F. Freed, J. Chem. Phys. \textbf{136}, 064902 (2012)]. Here, we further
extend the LCT for linear telechelic polymer melts to include a description of
chain semiflexibility, which is treated by introducing a bending energy penalty
whenever a pair of consecutive bonds from a single chain lies along orthogonal
directions. An analytical expression for the Helmholtz free energy is derived
for the model of semiflexible linear telechelic polymer melts. The extension
provides a theoretical tool for investigating the influence of chain stiffness
on the thermodynamics of self-assembling telechelic polymers, and for further
exploring the influence of self-assembly on glass formation in such systems.

Soft Condensed Matter