Structure of the Synthetic Polypeptide Poly-γ-methyl-L-glutamate

Abstract

WE have made a check on the assignment of the α-helix with eighteen residues in five turns to poly-γ-methyl-L-glutamate¹ by preparing and interpreting X-ray photographs of a sample of the material. The results obtained not only support the assignment, but also indicate that the β-carbon atoms are in position 2 rather than in position 1 ². This is the same assignment of the β-carbon atoms as that made by Riley and Arndt³ for serum albumin, on the basis of their determination of the radial distribution function.