Requires energy making it kinetically stable but slow
Bonds are rigid due to short length
Also remain unbranched
Do not rotate
Trans arrangment possible
Planar
Six atoms aligned
Dipeptides
A few naturally occurring examples
Aspartame (asp-phe): artificial sweetener
Tripeptide
Glutathione (glu-cys-gly): natural antioxidant
Polypeptide
Each amino acid unit is called a residue
Amino acid end at the beginning of the chain is called the
amino-terminal residue (N-terminal)
Amino acid at the end of the chain carboxyl-terminal
(C-terminal) residue
Rich in hydrogen bonding potential
Each residue contains a carbonyl group (hydrogen-bond
acceptor)
except for proline, and an NH group, which a good
hydrogen-bond donor
Short (10-40 aa)
Hormones, NTs
Large (<44 aa)
Proteins
Large protein (50 - 2,000 aa)
Dystrophin (3684 AAs)
Titin which is 27,000 amino acids, a muscle protein
Uncharged, allowing polymers of amino acids to form tightly packed globular structures
Proteins fold in such a way that to minimise contact with an aqueous environment
These are hydrophobic regions of the protein
Unable to form hydrogen bonds
Covalent bonds
Partial dipoles
Anotações:
Nuclei of the hydrogen atoms
naturally repel when close together because they are both positively
charged at certain distance away from each other there is a slight dipole attraction that strengthens the bond that requires very low energy
Disulphide bridges
join cysteines together forming a subunit
e.g. insulin
Non-covalent bonds
Hydrogen bonds
Peptides can from hydrogen bonds with other polar groups
(including peptide bonds) in a polypeptide chain
e.g. alpha helix
Responsible for specific base-pairs
Hydrogen-bond donor
Hydrogen-bond acceptor
Atom less tightly linked to hydrogen atom
Will have a partial negative charge
e.g. Trp, His
Longer and straighter than covalent bonds
Low energy
Weaker than covalent bonds
Roles
Responsible for maintaining the tertiary structures of
proteins
Crucial for biochemical processes such as the formation of the double helix
Electrostatic interactions
A charged group on one molecule can attract
an oppositely charged group on another
molecule
Polarity and solvent have a major effect of
dielectric constant and thus on the strength
of the interaction
Usually more attractive
interactions have more
negative energy
Energy given by Coulomb's law
Energy = proportions(charges of the
two atoms)/distance(dielectric constant
van der Waals
The distribution of electronic charge around an atom fluctuates with time
Charge distribution is never perfectly symmetric resulting in a complementary asymmetry in the electron
distribution within its neighbouring atoms so they attract one another
Result is that atoms come closer to one another until they are separated by van der Waals constant
distance where stronger repulsive forces become dominant (outer electron clouds overlap)
A large number of VDW forces can become substantial
Base stacking and associated van der Waals interactions are nearly optimal in double-helical
structure