ISSN:
0006-3525
Keywords:
vibrational CD
;
solution conformation
;
alanine oligopeptides
;
Chemistry
;
Polymer and Materials Science
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
The solution conformation of a number of small, linear alanine oligomers was investigated via ir (or vibrational) CD (VCD). We find that these oligopeptides assume distinct solution conformations that depend primarily on chain lengths, and to a lesser degree on temperature, ionic strength, and pH. As expected, the longer chain oligomers exhibit more distinct VCD features and, presumably, more stable solution structures. At the level of the hexamer, however, aggregation of the peptide occurs. The fast time scale of VCD allows solution structures to be detected that may not be observable using slower techniques such as various forms of nmr spectroscopy. The VCD results reported here confirm that it is generally possible to obtain conformational information for small, linear homo- and heterooligopeptides via VCD spectroscopy. In this respect, the sensitivity of VCD is similar to that of electronic CD. Furthermore, the temperature dependence of the VCD results indicate that at elevated temperatures, the increasing number of conformational states results in a loss of discernible conformers, and consequently, a broadening and weakening of the VCD features. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biopoly 46: 455-463, 1998
Additional Material:
7 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
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