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Helices are a key folding motif in protein structure. The question which factors determine helix stability for a given polypeptide or protein is an ongoing challenge. Here we use van der Waals corrected density-functional theory to address a part of this question in a bottom-up approach. We show how intrinsic helical structure is stabilized with length and temperature for a series of experimentally well studied unsolvated alanine based polypeptides, Ac-Alan-LysH+. By exploring extensively the conformational space of these molecules, we find that helices emerge as the preferred structure in the length range n=4-8 not just due to enthalpic factors (hydrogen bonds and their cooperativity, van der Waals dispersion interactions, electrostatics), but importantly also by a vibrational entropic stabilization over competing conformers at room temperature. The stabilization is shown to be due to softer low-frequency vibrational modes in helical conformers than in more compact ones. This observation is corroborated by including anharmonic effects explicitly through emph{ab initio} molecular dynamics, and generalized by testing different terminations and considering larger helical peptide models.
We demonstrate that the coupling of excitonic and vibrational motion in biological complexes can provide mechanisms to explain the long-lived oscillations that have been obtained in non linear spectroscopic signals of different photosynthetic pigment
Combining two-color infared pump-probe spectroscopy and anharmonic force field calculations we characterize the anharmonic coupling patterns between fingerprint modes and the hydrogen-bonded symmetric NH$_2$ stretching vibration in adenine-thymine dA
We report on the successful synthesis and hyperpolarization of N unprotected {alpha} amino acid ethyl acrylate esters and extensively, on an alanine derivative hyperpolarized by PHIP (4.4$pm$1% $^{13}$C-polarization), meeting required levels for in v
We present the ProCS method for the rapid and accurate prediction of protein backbone amide proton chemical shifts - sensitive probes of the geometry of key hydrogen bonds that determine protein structure. ProCS is parameterized against quantum mecha
Recent literatures reported blue-green emission from amyloid fibril as exclusive signature of fibril formation. This unusual visible luminescence is regularly used to monitor fibril growth. Blue-green emission has also been observed in crystalline pr