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Updated: May 10, 2026

Formation of Ordered Biomolecular Structures by the Self-assembly of Short Peptides
Published on: November 21, 2013
Evolution of conformational order during self-assembly of n-alkanethiols on Hg droplets: an infrared
Christopher B Babayco1, Pauline J Chang, Donald P Land
1Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, California 95616, United States.
Abstract:
This Letter describes Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy evidence for the evolution of conformational order and coverage during the formation of n-alkanethiol monolayers on microdroplets of mercury from the solution phase. At the highest coverages obtained by self-assembly, the monolayer is characterized by predominantly all-trans conformational order. For partial monolayers obtained at arbitrarily quenched incubation periods, we find a continuous evolution of the chain conformational order with monolayer coverage. Analyzing these results in light of previously reported models from X-ray scattering reveals a complex self-assembly process in which the density-dependent evolution of the chain conformational order is coupled with that of molecular orientation and density.
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