Premium
Temperature‐induced changes in protein heat capacity
Author(s) -
Palma Rocio
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
international journal of quantum chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-461X
pISSN - 0020-7608
DOI - 10.1002/qua.560480714
Subject(s) - heat capacity , phonon , exciton , degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry) , molecular vibration , quantization (signal processing) , vibrational energy , internal energy , range (aeronautics) , atmospheric temperature range , chemistry , boltzmann constant , heat transfer , distribution function , thermodynamics , condensed matter physics , materials science , physics , quantum mechanics , molecule , computer science , composite material , computer vision
In this paper, we describe the heat‐capacity changes under heating as a process defined by phonon–vibrational exciton interactions. Following Davidov, we describe an α‐helix as three noninteracting linear molecular crystals. Further development is achieved by solving the Boltzman's transport equation in the second quantization approximation for the quasi‐particles: phonons and vibrational excitons. Heat capacity is defined in terms of the distribution function changes with temperature. We found out that heat absorption is realized through the transfer energy from the molecular vibrations to the internal vibrational degrees of freedom in the physiological temperature range. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.