We studied the interaction of poly-l-lysine (PLL) and poly-l-arginine (PLAG) with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant and the interaction of poly-l-glutamic acid (PLGA) and poly-l-aspartic acid (PLAA) with tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) surfactant using vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopy in the region of C-H stretching vibration and in the Amide I region both in solution and in mulls. A chirality transfer from polypeptides to achiral surfactants was observed in the C-H stretching region, where measurements in solution were impossible. This observation was enabled by a special sample treatment technique using lyophilization and the preparation of mulls. This technique demonstrated itself as an interesting and beneficial tool for VCD measurements. In addition, we observed that SDS changed the secondary structure of PLL to the β-sheet and of PLAG to the α-helix. TTAB disrupted the PLGA and PLAA structure. These results were obtained in the mull but were confirmed by the VCD spectra measured in solution and by electronic circular dichroism. The chirality transfer from the polypeptides to SDS was caused by polypeptides ordered into a specific conformation during the interaction, while in the TTBA system it was induced primarily by the chirality of the amino acid residues.
Keywords: C-H region; Nujol/Fluorolube mull; induced chirality; secondary structure; vibrational circular dichroism.
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