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Electrostatic interactions in polyglutamic acid
Author(s) -
Rai J. H.,
Miller W. G.
Publication year - 1973
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.1973.360120413
Subject(s) - polyglutamic acid , chemistry , side chain , chain (unit) , chemical physics , electrolyte , charge (physics) , molecule , helix (gastropod) , random coil , computational chemistry , polymer , crystallography , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , circular dichroism , ecology , biochemistry , electrode , snail , biology
Conformational energy estimates were made for completely charged polyglutamic acid with different assumptions concerning the placement of side chain charge. Viewed as a helix, the minimum energy structure is somewhat affected by the side‐chain charge placement. The average energy of the chain viewed as a random coil is equal to or less than the average energy of the chain viewed as a helix. Unlike the polyacrylate chain, nearest‐neighbor charge interaction is shown to increase the chain dimensions. Although the calculations are approximate there is little evidence to suggest that isolated polyglutamate molecules in the absence of added electrolyte should behave as rods or that there are significant amounts of locally ordered structures. Presently no experimental results exist under conditions appropriate to isolated molecular calculations.