Vibrational Raman optical activity of proteins

Recent advances in optical technology have led to the development, at Glasgow, Scotland of a backscattering incident circular polarization (ICP) Raman optical activity (ROA) instrument. The higher S/N ratio and the greater control of polarization artifacts has allowed the study of protein samples to become almost routine. The advantage of ROA, over conventional Raman, is the far more prominent stereochemical sensitivity. In the case of the Glasgow instrument ROA is achieved by measuring the small difference between the Raman intensities in incident circularly right polarized and circularly left polarized light. We hope to utilize this chiroptical extension of conventional Raman to gain new insights into protein conformation and dynamics.