Effect of side‐chain disorder on the electronic structure of proteins

Abstract

Abstract The influence of side‐chain disorder on the electronic structure of proteins has been investigated in the case of polypeptides containing two or three different amino acid residues. It has been found that due to the different potentials of different side‐chain groups, the original valence and conduction bands of the homopolypeptides are split into narrow bands. The comparison of the densities of electronic states in simple homopolypeptides and in composite polymers shows that new forbidden regions in the energy spectrum of proteins may develop. The consequences of these effects for the semiconductive properties of proteins are discussed.