The propensity of peptides to form α-helices has been intensely studied using theory, computation, and experiment. Important model peptides for the study of the coil-to-helix transition have been alanine-lysine (AKA) peptides in which the lysine residues are placed on opposite sides of the helix avoiding charge repulsion while enhancing solubility. In this study, the effects of capped versus zw...

In this contribution we report studies on enzymatic activity of alpha-chymotrypsin (CHT) upon complexation with cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) micelle. With picosecond time resolution, we examined solvation dynamics at the interface of CHT-micelle complex, and rigidity of the binding. We have used 5-(dimethyl amino) naphthalene-1-sulfonyl chloride (dansyl chloride; DC) that is c...

Creation of synthetic catalysts with enzyme-like behavior is challenging despite strong interest in such systems. Extraction of tetrachloroaurate into the hydrophilic core of an interfacially cross-linked reverse micelle (ICRM) produced an artificial "metalloenzyme" with highly unusual catalytic properties. The ICRM pulled the substrate toward the catalytic metal, which converted it efficiently...

Molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out to investigate nanostructural organization in mixtures of 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium nitrate ionic liquid and water at multiple water concentrations. Evolution of the polar network, water network, and micelle structures is visualized and analyzed via partial radial distribution functions. The calculated static partial structure factors show ...

We utilize molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the implications of micelle formation on structural relaxation and polymer bead displacement dynamics in a model telechelic polymer solution. The transient structural heterogeneity associated with incipient micelle formation is found to lead to a ‘caging’ of the telechelic chain end-groups within dynamic clusters on times shorter than the...

The structures of micelles of the surfactant Octaethyleneglycol mono n-dodecyl ether (C12E8, BL-8SY) in 0–80% aqueous 1,4-dioxane solutions (pH 7.2, ionic strength 2.44 mM) were investigated by small-angle X-ray scattering. C12E8 forms the core–shell discus micelle in 0–80% aqueous 1,4-dioxane solutions. Changing properties of aqueous 1,4-dioxane solution did not affect the outside-shapes of C1...

We have designed a pathway for controlling the critical micelle concentration and micelle size of polyester-based systems. This was achieved by creating an array of different copolymers with semicrystalline or amorphous hydrophobic blocks. The hydrophobic block was constructed through ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone, L-lactide, and ε-decalactone, either as homopolymers or random c...

A mathematical model has been developed to compute the spectroscopic properties of fluorescence systems with multiple Förster transfer pairs in a homogeneous 3-dimensional matrix. This model is based on Förster energy transfer theory and needs only a limited number of parameters which depend only on the properties of the individual dyes and their pair-wise interactions. Yet, the model allows th...