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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

Atomic Scale Structural Studies of Macromolecular Assemblies by Solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Published on: September 17, 2017
The origin of vibrational mode couplings in various secondary structural motifs of polypeptides
1Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-3113, USA.
Abstract:
Electrostatic (through-space) and covalent (through-bond) contributions to couplings involving the C[double bond]O and C[bond]N vibrational stretching modes of the amide group in the alpha-helix and the parallel and antiparallel beta-sheet structures of alanine polypeptides are analyzed. Coupling constants computed at the density functional theory level are compared with the transition dipole coupling model and the complete electrostatic interaction between transition densities. We find that the transition densities of C[double bond]O modes are localized, and the electrostatic mechanism then holds. In contrast, the C[bond]N mode transition densities are delocalized, and covalent contributions to the coupling are significant.
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