Practice question
Question
CD detects what feature of proteins?
Explanation
Circular dichroism monitors differential absorption of left-handed and right-handed circularly polarized light by chiral structures. Proteins display strong far-ultraviolet bands between 190 and 250 nanometers arising from peptide amide n to pi-star and pi to pi-star transitions arranged asymmetrically in α-helices and β-sheets, generating characteristic helical double minima or sheet profiles. Near-ultraviolet reports tertiary environment of aromatics. Primary sequence itself lacks such ordered chirality. Secondary periodic coupling of amides therefore makes CD powerful for rapid estimation of helix and sheet content.
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