Disordered conformations direction

Raman optical activity is an excellent technique for studying polypeptide and protein structure in aqueous solution since, as mentioned above, their ROA spectra are often dominated by bands originating in the peptide backbone that directly reflect the solution conformation. Furthermore, the special sensitivity of ROA to dynamic aspects of structure makes it a new source of information on order-disorder transitions. 

This implies a modification of the chain direction and, finally, a generation of a helix with a larger cross section than that of the trans planar chain.218 Such phase transitions are often associated with the onset of some conformational disorder characterized by the occurrence of kink bands (Figure 2.48b), similar to those found in sPP samples quench crystallized from solutions189,190 (Figures 2.46 and 2.47) or in polyethylene.219 It is apparent from Figure 2.48... 

Fig. 10. Electron density projection along -strand direction—hydrogen-bonding direction (a-axis) horizontal, and intersheet direction (c-axis) vertical—and skeletal models of polyGln8 (Q8) and polyGln45 (Q45) assemblies. The unit cell for both peptides was monoclinic, with lattice constants a = 9.73 A, b = 7.14 A, c = 8.16 A, and y = 95.7° for Q8, and a = 9.66 A, b = 7.10 A, c = 8.33 A, and y = 94.0° for Q45. The side chains are nearly overlapped in the hydrogen-bonding direction. This difference in side chain conformation and disorder likely accounts for the differences in observed intensity between their diffraction patterns.

Another, more direct approach to overcome the problem of surface reconstruction, is the variation of the mesogenic unit of the surface active molecule. Instead of using flexible n-alkyl moieties with high conformational freedom, SAMs formed from molecules featuring a rigid mesogen in which conformational disorder has been eliminated as completely as possible should be suitable for the preparation... 

The problem is further complicated for vinyl polymers with their problems of stereoisomerism. The first descriptions of the conformational state of isotactic polypropylene in solution go back 25 years (178, 179, 192, 193). Corradini, Allegra, and Ganis proposed a model, still essentially valid today, according to which macromolecules possess a local helical structure analogous to that observed in the crystalline state. The helix segments are rather short, only a few monomer units, after which an inversion of the helix sense occurs, with simultaneous alteration of its direction (Figure 15). As a whole this disordered con-... 

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