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The dynamics of the helix‐coil transition in poly‐α, L ‐glutamic acid
Author(s) -
Lumry R.,
Legare R.,
Miller W. G.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
biopolymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1097-0282
pISSN - 0006-3525
DOI - 10.1002/bip.1964.360020507
Subject(s) - chemistry , helix (gastropod) , random coil , electromagnetic coil , relaxation (psychology) , temperature jump , polymer , crystallography , nuclear magnetic resonance , chemical physics , physics , circular dichroism , organic chemistry , ecology , social psychology , psychology , quantum mechanics , snail , biology
Temperature jump measurements employing optical rotation to follow transients show an upper limit of 10μsec. on the half time of the helix‐random coil relaxation in poly‐α, L ‐glutamic acid. No relaxations are observed under conditions where the polymer exists in completely helical or completely random coil form. Assuming that the helix‐coil transition can be described kinetically as a pure growth process, expressions for the relaxation time are derived for three special cases. A comparison is made between the rate of the helix‐coil transition and the rate of imide proton exchange.