Structural Transitions in the Polyalanine α-Helix under Uniaxial Strain.
We analyzed the response to strain of an infinite polyalanine chain in the α-helical conformation using density functional theory. Under compressive strain the π-helix is found to undergo structural transitions to a α-helix when the length of the helix is reduced by more than 10%. Under tensile stra...
| Publicado en: | Journal of the American Chemical Society Vol. 127; no. 49; pp. 17241 - 17245 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
American Chemical Society
12/14/2005
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| Sumario: | We analyzed the response to strain of an infinite polyalanine chain in the α-helical conformation using density functional theory. Under compressive strain the π-helix is found to undergo structural transitions to a α-helix when the length of the helix is reduced by more than 10%. Under tensile strain the structure changes into a 3-helix when the length is stretched by more than 10%. Our analysis of these transitions shows that they proceed essentially in two steps: At first there is mainly a length change, and only with some delay the helix twist adjusts. |
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