Correction to "Bifurcated Hydrogen Bonds in a Peptide Crystal Unveiled by X-ray Diffraction and Polarized Raman...

Overview

A peptide bond covalently attaches amino acids through a dehydration reaction. One amino acid's carboxyl group and another amino acid's amino group combine, releasing a water molecule. The resulting bond is the peptide bond. The products that such linkages form are peptides. As more amino acids join this growing chain, the resulting chain is a polypeptide. Each polypeptide has a free amino group at one end. This end has the N-terminal, or the amino-terminal, and the other end has a free...

The size of the unit cell and the arrangement of atoms in a crystal may be determined from measurements of the diffraction of X-rays by the crystal, termed X-ray crystallography.
Diffraction
Diffraction is the change in the direction of travel experienced by an electromagnetic wave when it encounters a physical barrier whose dimensions are comparable to those of the wavelength of the light. X-rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths about as long as the distance between neighboring...

Proteins are one of the most abundant organic molecules in living systems and have the most diverse range of functions of all macromolecules. Proteins may be structural, regulatory, contractile, or protective. They may serve in transport, storage, or membranes; or they may be toxins or enzymes. Their structures, like their functions, vary greatly. They are all, however, amino acid polymers arranged in a linear sequence.
A protein's shape is critical to its function. For example, an enzyme...

X-ray diffraction or XRD is an analytical tool that utilizes X-rays to study ordered structures such as crystalline organic and inorganic samples, polycrystalline materials, proteins, carbohydrates, and drugs.
According to Bragg's law, when X-rays strike the sample positioned on a stage, the rays are  scattered by the electron clouds around the sample atoms. The  X-ray diffraction or scattering is caused by constructive interference of the X-ray waves that reflect off the internal...