Stability of helical polyamino acids in solution at high temperatures

Abstract

Abstract Optical rotatory dispersion studies have been carried out at temperatures up to 150 °C. on poly(γ‐benzyl L ‐glutamate) in α‐chloronaphthalene and N ‐methylcaprolactam, and on poly‐ε‐carbobenzoxy‐ L ‐lysine, poly‐δ‐carbobenzoxy‐ L ‐ornithine, and poly( L ‐glutamic acid) in N ‐methylacetamide. The Moffitt‐Yang −b 0 values were large in all cases, but significant decreases in −b 0 were observed at the upper temperature limits of the study suggesting that a transition region was being entered. Polymer degradation generally precluded examination of the systems through the suggested transition region.