H-Bond vibrations of the α-helix

Abstract

The collective low frequency longitudinal vibrational modes of the α-helix are isolated using Dean's method, (P. Dean, Proc. Phys. Soc., London, 1959, 73, 413; P. Dean, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A, 1960, 254, 507), which considers the different masses of the amino acids involved. The spectrum range extends up to f = 100 cm⁻¹ for the α-portion of several proteins within the range of experimental results (S. Cusack, J. Smith, J. Finney, B. Tidor and M. Karplus, J. Mol. Biol., 1988, 202, 903).